Gravity
by theoriginalcheeesecake
Summary: Something always pulls Klaus and Caroline together... Almost like gravity. A collection of unrelated Klaroline drabbles most of which start out life on Tumblr.
1. Apricot vs Peach

"Nik! Can you do anything right?!"

"What have I done now, little sister?" Klaus rolled his eyes, Rebekah was such a drama queen, he had probably just put his plate in the dishwasher wrong, or something.

"When I said, 'can you please get my apricot coat from the coat check' last night, I meant the _apricot_ one. You got me _peach,_ Nik. PEACH. Do you know what that means?"

"What does it mean?" Klaus asked patronisingly, exasperated by his sister's histrionics.

"It means, Nik, that you picked up _someone else's_ coat. Not mine. My purse was in my coat, my ID was in my coat, my notebook with all my designs was in my coat."

"Oh," Klaus said lamely. How was he meant to know the difference between apricot and peach, they were both a pale orange, weren't they?

"Yes, _oh._ You are going to fix this. And I am going to go shopping. _And_ I am taking your credit card, seeing as _someone_ lost my purse." Klaus sat there bemusedly as Rebekah stomped up the stairs, coming down completely ready ten minutes later.

Why the hell couldn't she get ready that fast when they were supposed to be going out somewhere?

Rebekah made a great show of pulling his American Express Black card out of his wallet, before turning her narrowed eyes onto him. "That coat was $600, a one of a kind, and how you could mix it up with this _thing_ is completely beyond me. You will fix this, Nik; by the time I get home. And if you don't," Rebekah put her most intimidating voice on, drawing herself up to her full height, so she was looming over Klaus as he sat on the couch, "I will have your guts for garters."

It wasn't that Klaus was scared of his sister; it was just that sometimes, when she got that look in her eye, Klaus almost believed that she could actually follow through with her threats. And she was getting married soon, and needed a garter…. Plus, he hated it when his sister was upset because of something _he_ had done, even if it was an accident.

Rebekah left slamming the doors behind her.

Klaus rolled his eyes again; his eyes really were getting a work out that morning. God, Rebekah was a drama queen.

Klaus jumped up and rifled through the pockets of the offending coat, and groaned realising that, unlike Bekah, this girl didn't leave things in her pockets. The only things he found in it were a Band-Aid, which seemed to have a picture of Cinderella on it, and a tube of raspberry lip-gloss.

Rolling his eyes some more, _could this girl get any girlier_ , Klaus made the decision to go back to the hall where the function had been held last night.

He was half way through getting ready when the doorbell rang.

"For God's sake," Klaus grumbled to himself.

Could this day get any more inconvenient?

xxx

"What's this?"

"It's your coat, Care, Elena really appreciated you lending it to her."

"This isn't my coat, Stefan."

"Yes, it is…"

"No, it's not. This is apricot, mine was peach."

"What's the difference?"

"What's the difference? The difference is, Stefan, that this isn't my coat! When I lend you my things I expect them back? I don't even know you could mix mine up with the _thing."_

"I'm sorry, Care. I didn't mean to. Elena was a little bit more tipsy than she should have been so I picked up our coats, I must have just grabbed the wrong one," Stefan said, looking apologetic.

"Yeah, Saint Elena needs help, so Stefan forsakes his _best friend_ to help her. That's a story I haven't heard before. Not!" Caroline said angrily. She knew she shouldn't be angry with him; it was an honest mistake, probably one that hundreds of guys made on a regular basis. But it was the principle of the thing. Elena had begged Stefan to ask Caroline if she could borrow the coat _("it's just one night, Care. What's the worst that could happen?")_ and then they had promptly lost it. And it was an expensive coat. AND it had been a _really_ long time since she and Tyler broke up, some could say she was _frustrated._

"Caroline, you're being dramatic. It's just a coat," Stefan said patiently.

"Whatever, Stefan. It's _just a coat,"_ she waved her arms hysterically, "So if I lost your Bon Jovi replica leather jacket, I guess that would be _just a coat_ too? Urgh, go away Stefan. I'll find my coat by myself, seeing as you didn't offer."

With that Caroline slammed the door in bewildered Stefan's face.

Caroline took the coat and quickly looked through the pockets.

The coat belonged to one Rebekah Mikaelson, who was seemingly a fashion designer if the notepad full of designs was anything to go by. There was even a home address that wasn't that far from Caroline's own place.

She dressed quickly, before bundling the coat up and striding down the street, in search of 623 Orchard Way.

When she found the place she pressed the doorbell, and waited.

30 seconds later, she started knocking, before ringing the doorbell again.

She wasn't patient, so shoot her.

"Alright, alright," Caroline heard a male voice on the other side of the door say as she kept knocking furiously.

The sight that greeted her on the other side of the door made her stop and do a comical double take.

The man who answered the door must have been part way through getting dressed, because he had no shirt on, and only a pair of grey cotton boxers covering his manhood.

Caroline thought she must have died and gone to heaven. There was no way any man could look like that and live. She started at his legs. They were long and toned. The sight of his legs alone had heat pooling between her own legs.

Caroline had seen her fair share of men's nether regions in her time - she wasn't a slut, or anything, but she did really like sex - and she had never, _never,_ seen a man's junk look so impressive through a pair of boxer shorts. Caroline couldn't stop herself from picture him driving into her, over and over while she screamed out his name.

Then there were the flat, hard panes of his abs. The most alluring abs she'd ever seen. Abs for miles. Abs for days.

Caroline couldn't stop herself then.

She loved sex, but it had been _wayyyy_ too long, and here was this man just standing in front of her, almost begging to be touched.

So she did.

She reached out her hand and gently stroked the perfectly sculpted abs with her soft little hands. She was completely transfixed by this god of a man standing in front of her.

"Can I help you, sweetheart?"

 _Jesus,_ Caroline thought, _he has an accent. I am so screwed. At least I hope I am._

Then she realised what she was doing.

 _Holy shit, Caroline!_

She was touching the body of a stranger!

 _He's probably going to bring you up on harassment charges, Caroline. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!_

Caroline turned beet red and snatched her hand away. She sheepishly looked into his eyes.

 _Of course he just had to have a face that was as fucking perfect as his body. Good job at making an idiot of yourself, Caroline._

"Please, don't stop on my account. It's not everyday I have a beautiful woman so boldly touching without asking."

Caroline was absolutely mortified. So the rambling started.

"Umm, anyway. I have a coat for a Rebekah Mikaelson. But you're obviously not her, because, well, _look at you,_ you are obviously a fine specimen of manhood. So I'll just leave you be, and die in a little hole. Bye now."

Caroline turned to go when the man grabbed her hand. The effect of him touching her, voluntarily, after her display was to immediately want to rip her clothes off and have him take her right now.

In the courtyard.

For all to see.

"Wait, love. I'm Rebekah's brother. It seems I mixed up the coats last nights. Although, having you turn up on my doorstep definitely made the telling off Rebekah gave me this morning worth it."

Klaus smirked at the girl. She was beautiful. Her face was about as perfect as one could get, and Klaus was dying to see what expressions it would make as she climaxed. Her hair reminded him of a roman goddess, and how he did love a strong woman.

Her legs were creamy, toned and long. Very long. Swedish flight attendant long. The kind of long he could imagine wrapped around him as he pounded into her as she came around him.

The tiny blue and white striped shorts that covered her perky bum left very little to imagination. Although why anyone would wear shorts in the weather was beyond him, but who was he to complain. The oversized knit jumper she had on covered up any curves she may have, but Klaus knew with legs and a face like that, there would be a middle section that was just as delectable.

"Why don't you come in, love? And we'll see if the coat I picked up is yours." Klaus leant in and breathed temptingly into her ear. He smirked as she tensed a little hearing his accent, and feeling his breath ghosting over her neck.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

He was too close. Far too close. She didn't even know his name, and yet she was thinking of fucking him until she couldn't walk. Caroline tried to get a grip on herself. To hold back all her instincts.

"Why not, sweetheart?" he said, placing his hands on her waist tentatively. Caroline shuddered at the contact, needing more contact. From the moment her perfect hand had caressed Klaus' body, he wanted her, and hoped that she didn't look down to see just how bad he wanted her.

For a fraction of a second, Caroline flicked her eyes down to his boxers. The sight of his obvious arousal for her, nearly made her come right there.

 _What the hell, I'm a single, sexy adult who hasn't gotten laid in way too long._

She met his lust filled eyes with her own, and put on her best seductive voice.

"Because," she breathed back, leaning in even closer, brushing her lips over a pressure point in his neck. Caroline grinned as she felt him groan. "If I go inside, there is no chance I won't push you onto the nearest surface and ride you until you come inside me, screaming my name so loud, that your neighbours will hear."

Klaus shuddered. He never knew that a girl dirty talking him could be so sexy. "That can be arranged, love," he croaked out huskily. He needed her. He needed her bad.

"Caroline,"

"Right. Klaus. That can be arranged, Caroline."

"Good."

With that Caroline crashed her mouth onto his, hooking her legs around his waist grinding her centre over his arousal, as he walked them inside, quickly ridding her of the jumper and confirming that, yes, her middle section was just as glorious as her other parts.

xxx

Hours later, Klaus and Caroline were wrapped up on Klaus' bed breathing heavily. They'd both lost count of how many rounds they went. But it was now dark outside, and Caroline had shown up at 11 that morning.

"Just for the record," Caroline whispered, as she nipped at his earlobes, "This is _not_ what I expected when I came over here."

"Nor me, love, when I opened that door," Klaus smirked. "You did seem rather taken by my body."

"Well, it's not every day that a man opens the door almost totally naked. A girl has her needs. Why did you open the door dressed like that anyway?" Caroline asked as she began to kiss a line along his neck.

"Honestly," Klaus said, groaning at her ministrations, "I was hoping it would scare off whoever was so impatiently banging on my door."

"Your plan didn't work," she said kissing his lips in little bursts.

"No it didn't. But I can't say I'm unhappy with the results." Klaus pushed the hair away from Caroline's face and kissed her passionately before drawing away. "Caroline?"

"Mmm."

"Would you like to come out with me tomorrow?" Klaus was slightly nervous, although he wasn't sure why he was. It wasn't like they hadn't been having sex all day.

"Like a date?"

"Exactly."

"I would love that."

They both grinned at each other, before Klaus flipped them over and he was kissing her wildly once more

"As long as you know," Caroline said between pants, and kisses, "I don't put out on the first date."

* * *

 **Hi peeps,**

 **Umm, this story is just going to be all the rando drabbles I post on tumblr. Mainly for the benefit of my friend who often proof reads my work for me, because she doesn't have Tumblr and so now she can just come here to read if she feels so inclined, rather than battling a site she's not familliar with.**

 **I'm going to update the six or seven I have today and then as I write them (obvs).**

 **The name 'Gravity' is in reference to the Sarah McLachlan song of the same title which has the opening line of 'something always brings me back to you, it never takes too long'. And I think it is _soooo_ Klaroline in fanon. They always find each other. Because they're perfect dammit. **

**ALSO, soz for the delay in both my other fics, I've been procrastinating like a mofo and uni is heckers so yeah... Sorry. Plz don't hate me.**

 **ANYHEY - hope you enjoy.**


	2. A Studying Conspiracy

"Are you sure it's going to work?"

"Puh-lease, Klaus, I've known her since the sandbox. It may take a while, but if you pay her overt amounts of attention, you'll annoy her and she'll bite. Stems from her craving attention, never getting it, so when she does she tends to get a little antsy."

"Whatever you say," Klaus said tentatively.

xxx

Caroline was frantic. As a second year, she'd just finished her third year biology exam, even though it went fine, she was still panicking. She had one to go and it was intermediate physics. Caroline love physics, but sometime the formulae just kicked her butt.

She sat down in the vast library, and tucked a stray hair behind her ear. It was business time. She was going to go through all her unit notes today so, by tomorrow, she would be ready to do practice papers.

Caroline was born to study. She was diligent, and thorough. She could concentrate for hours at a time with caffeinated aid.

But today, she just couldn't focus.

There was a funny prickling on the back of her neck. She kept shifting in her seat, trying to get comfortable. After what felt like hours (but was really only 30 minutes) Caroline looked up, trying desperately to refocus her brain.

As she looked up, she caught the eye of a crazy attractive guy sitting three tables away. He had dirty blonde curls on top of his perfectly dimpled face. His rosy lips were perfect kissing size, and the stormy grey-blue eyes seemed to gaze into her, straight to her soul.

She always loved attention, so she gave the guy a flirty smile, but she then went back to her study.

She really needed to get through this.

The little flirt seemed to be enough to put her mind at ease, and she managed to plough through a good hour and a half of work.

xxx

Klaus picked up his phone and dialled a number.

"Jesus, what do you want?"

"It's been nearly two hours, and she's only noticed once."

"I told you, it'll take a while. Give it another hour."

"You better be right, or my brother will find his girlfriend kidney-less."

"Yeah, yeah, Klaus. Always with the kidney threats."

xxx

Before she knew it, Caroline was getting antsy again. She looked up and the same guy from before _still_ staring at her. Caroline went back to her books, but peaked looks at him every few minutes.

After another hour, however, Caroline was utterly fed up with his little routine. So decided to storm over there and cause a fuss.

xxx

"Umm, can you not?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Look, I don't know what your problem is, or whether I have spinach in my teeth or something. But can you please quit it with the weird Marina Abramović thing you've got going…"

"You know Marina Abramoić?"

"… I'm trying to study for my last exam. It is a only a week away and I am so far from…"

"You're studying for an exam and it's a full week away?"

"… Being ready it isn't funny. Why the hell did I decide to do physics, I tell you…"

"You study physics?"

"… I'm honestly about this far from calling security…"

"Are you even listening to me?"

"… And having you kicked out of the library…"

"Caroline?"

"… For harassing the other students…"

"Caroline?"

"… I mean who sits and stares at someone for…"

"My god, love, you know how to talk."

"… Three hours while they are…"

"CAROLINE!"

Caroline stopped mid rant.

"Wait, you know my name?" He very much enjoyed the look of bewilderment on her face.

"I do, love."

"How do you know my name?"

"That's classified, sweetheart."

"But how do you know my name? I've never even seen you before."

"Would you like to go on a date with me?"

" _What!?"_

"You heard me."

"I would never in my right mind go on a date with weird-knows-my-name-Abramović guy."

Klaus slid a piece of paper across the table.

"That is my phone number, you can put it in your phone under 'weird-knows-my-name-Abramović guy'."

"But I'm not going on a date with you."

"Yes you will."

"Well you're mighty confident, aren't you?"

"Indeed."

"What makes you so sure?"

Weird-knows-my-name-Abramović guy chuckled.

"Well, for starters I know it's just killing you that I know your name, but you don't know mine. I also know you study physics, which means you're not one to back down from a challenge. And I'm certainly challenging you. You want to know how I found out your name. And you also want to know why I was staring at you." The guy's smirk widened as Caroline couldn't find a rebuttal to his logic. "So, it stands to reason that you will come on a date with me."

"But, I… I don't…"

"Finally, she can't find her words. I'll pick you up at your dorm room at 7pm. Make sure you wear something comfortable, and warm."

"But how you do know where I live?"

Weird-knows-my-name-Abramović guy just smirked some more and picked up his things and left quickly.

Caroline slumped in the nearest chair. Not many people managed to get one over on her. Yet the staring guy had.

What was worse, was that he was right. She would go out with him, if only to find out the answers to her questions.

xxx

The next evening, Caroline was frantic again.

She had a date with a stranger who knew all about her and she knew nothing about them. It was all a little too much for exam-addled brain.

"Whoa, Care. What's got you running around like a headless chicken?"

"I have a date, Kat. In thirty minutes! And I have nothing to wear! And it's practically a blind date, because I don't know him. And I am stressed to the max. But I HAVE to know how he knows me!"

"Settle down, Carebear. It'll be fine. What were you thinking of wearing?" Katherine shushed her friend, sitting her down on the bed.

"He said comfortable."

"Easy!" Katherine said, going to rummage through Caroline's dresser. She pulled out Caroline's dark skinny jeans, a bottle green slightly cropped tank top, some black boots and Caroline's favourite black jacket. "Done."

"Oh my god, Kat. You're a lifesaver."

Half an hour later there was a knock at the door, "Oh my god! He's here. How do I look?"

"Sexy. Now, go get him."

Caroline opened the door, "Hi Weird-knows-my-name-Abramović guy, how are you today?"

"Well, sweetheart," he chuckled. "Let's get going."

As Caroline stepped out of her dorm, he popped his head through and winked at the brunette on the couch, who just smirked and said "Have her home by quarter-past-make-sure-she-gets-laid. She's horrific when she's sexually frustrated."

He just smirked some more and shut the door behind him.

xxx

The date went perfectly. She found out his name was Nik and studied art, art history and business.

"I want to open my own gallery sometime in the future," he had told her.

Nik took her to get take-away pizza before driving them, in his red vintage Cadillac, to a drive-in cinema where they watched 80s classic The Breakfast Club on big screen, while eating pizza, snuggled under a rug together.

Caroline found out that weird-knows-my-name-Abramović guy was actually not creepy, but so sweet and thoughtful.

As he walked her back to her dorm after the evening was done she asked, "So, how did you know then? I've been very patient all night."

Nik smirked.

"My last name is Mikaelson."

Suddenly it all clicked. Kat was dating a Mikaelson. Nik must be a brother, and asked Katherine who Caroline was. He would have asked Kat how to get her attention (obviously, annoy her while she was studying), she would have told him she never likes anyone knowing more than her (so make phrase the date as a challenge), and then that her perfect date was pizza, John Hughes, and romance.

"I'm gonna kill her."

Nik just chuckled, understanding her train of thought. Then he leaned in to place his perfect lips onto hers and gave her a soft, sweet kiss.

"Thank you for a beautiful evening, Caroline. I do hope we can do it again soon," Nik said, before placing another fleeting kiss onto her lips, and turning to leave.

Caroline had never been more thankful that Kat was a meddling best friend ever.

xxx

The next morning, Caroline got her morning cup of tea and went to check the mail.

In the mailbox was an envelope, addressed to her.

She opened it and found five sketches and a watercolour of her face. She looked beautiful. The note attached read:

 _This is why I was staring, love, because you're beautiful._

* * *

 **Looooool!**

 **Hope you like.**

 **Marina Abramović is a performance artist who, for one of her pieces, sat staring blankly at anyone who sat across from her at the table. There's a youtube clip of it, and it is simulataneously horrifically unsettling, but so so beautiful and oh my gosh recommend.**

 **Plus, if anyone cute is reading this (which will be everyone, because I honestly believe _everyone_ is cute) the date Klaus takes Caroline on in this is my dream first date. Just so's you know ;)**


	3. The Best Wingdog

Caroline Forbes was not having a good day.

She had been up since 4am - again - because the dog _her roommate_ had offered to babysit for _her_ brother was scratching at her door preening for attention - again - because Rebekah had apparently not come home from her date the previous evening - again.

Then Caroline had to be at work at 6am, where two of her co-workers had called in 'sick'. This left Caroline to pick up the slack, as well as an extra four hour shift because her boss had _asked -_ more like demanded - that she stay until 6pm, rather than 2pm, because she needed to _go to an appointment,_ which for Caroline's boss, meant _go visit my boy-toy._

Throughout the horrific day Natural Inspirations, the green bistro Caroline worked at while she was at college, customers were ruder than usual –

" _Excuse me, young lady, I ordered HALF soy milk and HALF almond milk in my double shot take away mocha latte, and this is definitely 3/4s soy, and 1/4 almond. Make it again!" –_

The orders had been weirder than usual –

" _May I please have a lettuce, carrot, beetroot, and tahini sandwich, on gluten free bread, with melted cheese and peanut butter instead of regular butter?" –_

And the kitchen staff seemed to think it was 'let's slack off day' because the boss wasn't around. Caroline had been running around frantically, trying to have a bright smile on her face, while she endured all the 'wonderful' aspects of working in hospitality.

When Caroline had got home after 12 hours on her feet, all she wanted to do was flop on the couch, utterly exhausted from the day from hell. But the minute she had unlocked the door, Wolfy bounded up to her jumping up and trying to lick her face.

"Not right now, boy. I need to sit."

But the dog wasn't having any of it. The minute Caroline sat down, he was nudging her with his nose and throwing his slobbery balls into her lap so she would play with him.

Caroline sighed, frustrated. Could she not catch a break today? Judging by Wolfy's mood, and the fact that the house was the same as when she left it this morning, Rebekah hadn't been home at all over the course of the day.

She played with the dog, and then fed him - she _was_ tired, but she wasn't cruel - then she set about making herself an omelette for dinner.

Just as Caroline took the first bite of her food, she heard a horrible hacking noise. It became louder and louder as Wolfy got closer and closer.

Suddenly he was right in front of her, vomiting a horrible mix of yellow and green onto Caroline's precious antique rug - the rug that Liz had given Caroline when she moved out, that Caroline's granny had given Liz, when Liz moved out.

Caroline shrieked and jumped away.

She did not do vomit.

Not ever.

Not from her drunk friends, not from her sick roommates, not even from herself.

And she certainly, _especially,_ did not do it from her roommate's brother's hulking husky.

Caroline pulled out her phone and furiously dialled Rebekah's number. It went to voice mail. She tried it again. Same thing. She sent at least ten angrily worded text messages detailing what had happened and her absolute total fury at having been put in the position of minding the dog all the time in the first place - because Rebekah had been pretty much shacked up with her new boyfriend since the dog came to stay two weeks ago!

Turns out Wolfy had been chewing on Caroline's coriander plant she kept in the kitchen. And turns out coriander was bad for dogs. But he was happy enough once it was out of his system.

Just as Caroline was about to call her ex-boyfriend to come help clean up the sick - because there was _no way in hell_ she was going within 6 feet of dog vomit - there was a knock at the door.

"It's a hot mess! This entire day is a hot, fucking mess!" Caroline growled out.

Of course there was a visitor now. Right when she was a total smelly wreck still dressed in her dishevelled work clothes, smelling like dog, a commercial kitchen, and a homeless person, when she had her dinner, which would be completely cold by now, _and_ after the dog had just thrown up everywhere.

Caroline stomped angrily to the door, and aggressively opened it and gritted out, "How can I help you?"

Caroline froze when she saw the person on the other side of the door. She could have cried. He had lazy, dirty blonde curls, big stormy grey-blue eyes, perfectly kissable raspberry lips, the most adorable dimples, and a smirk in place, that was the most smug, infuriating and devastatingly attractive expression Caroline had ever seen.

"Ahh, you must be Caroline. I was looking for Rebekah, love," the man said in a perfectly smooth British accent.

He was dressed to the nines in what had to be a tailer made designer suit - that probably cost more than she'd make in a week - and made him look like he'd stepped off the cover of a magazine.

"Well she's…" Caroline began irritably, but was cut off by Wolfy barrelling beneath her legs. Caroline lost her balance completely, and fell backwards.

"Jesus Christ, Wolfy," Caroline groaned, "get back in…"

Then she noticed neither dog, nor man had even noticed Caroline fall, as they were too busy engaged with each other.

"There's a good boy," the man kept on saying as the dog jumped and licked him. The genuine smile that adorned the man's face did nothing to temper Caroline's mood.

"Oh so you're the mysterious Nik I keep hearing about then?" Caroline said rudely. She felt slightly dizzy, and was even more furious about what had happened. Did he not even care that _his dog_ had just completely knocked her over?

"Next time you dump your monster of a dog on someone, make sure that _someone_ doesn't dump the responsibility on her roommate," Caroline began to rant. "I have not had a decent night's sleep since he came here, while Rebekah has been off with her new boyfriend. I've had to feed him, and walk him, as well as having a near full time job, and full time school. It's not like Rebekah has a job, or studies anything. And your bloody animal just vomited all over my family heirloom rug, and I've had the worst possible day. And, like, 'Wolfy'? What sort of name is that?! He's a dog! Why not doggy? Do you have compensation problems, or something? So, please, if you wouldn't mind, would you be so kind as to TAKE YOUR GOD DAMN DOG AND LEAVE SO I CAN GO HAVE A SHOWER AND A DECENT NIGHT'S SLEEP!"

The man was chuckling, thoroughly amused, as Caroline finished up her tirade. The smirk was back in place.

"Mozart."

"I beg your pardon," Caroline spat out impatiently.

"I named him after Mozart, so he's actually Wolfgang. But after about a year he just became Wolfy."

"Right," Caroline said, sceptically.

"I'm sorry Bekah dumped him onto you."

"Yeah, well so am I. He's the most adorable dog in history, which figures, but I don't do vomit. Never."

Nik smirked some more, quirking an eyebrow, "Do you think his owner is 'the most adorable in history'?"

Caroline blanched, "What?"

"You said, 'which figures'. So do you think that I'm is the most adorable in history?"

Caroline blushed, because, yes, look at him! But she said instead, "Why would you even ask that?"

"Bekah has made sure since you two became friends three years ago, that you never meet me, saying that I wouldn't be able to keep my paws off you. And now I can see why."

"What do you mean you 'can see why'?"

"Because you're the 'most adorable' woman in history. At least, that I've ever come across."

"What?" Caroline spluttered. "Look at me, I'm smelly and I look like an utter wreck, my day, you have no idea, how is this possibly adorable?"

"Can I buy you dinner?"

"You really don't waste any time do you?"

"Never, love, not when it comes to someone as beautiful as you. In actual fact, why don't you go have a shower, and I'll whip us up some for dinner?"

"Are you serious?" Caroline said incredulously.

"Very serious. In fact, I won't take no for an answer." At that, Nik pushed past her inside, followed closely by Wolfy - who'd been remarkably well behaved throughout their entire exchange.

Caroline rolled her eyes as Nik made himself at home in her kitchen, looking through the ingredients and utensils.

"Fine, but I don't like raw tomato," she said before stomping upstairs to have a shower, secretly very pleased at the way it all panned out.

"Ahh, Wolfy," Klaus said when he heard the shower turn on upstairs patting the dog on his head affectionately. "I always knew you were the best wingman."

The husky grinned widely.

* * *

 **Hello again,**

 **This happened to me, minus the sexy British guy saving the day at the end, and the dog was a toy poodle, not a husky. It wasn't fun, because I DO NOT DO VOMIT. At all.**

 **Over and out.**


	4. You Turned Out Pretty Well

"Oh, Hopey, what's the matter?" Caroline asked the little girl who was weeping in the corner of the playground.

As a first grade teacher, Caroline had a child crying on her at least three times a week, but never with this much anguish in their little faces, and rarely ever during lunchtime.

The little girl just looked at Caroline with big brown eyes, and threw her arms around the teacher, before starting to sob into Caroline's neck.

"Shh, shh, it's going to be alright, Hope," Caroline soothed, stroking her brown curls down.

As the little girl's heartbreaking sobs subsided, and breathing return to normal, Caroline pulled away from the girl a little to look into her eyes again.

"Do you want to tell me what's up?" Caroline asked.

"Eva was teasing me about not having a mum," Hope choked out.

Caroline knew Hope's family situation was less than normal. The little girl was picked up from school by a different family member every day of the week. From what Caroline had gathered, Hope lived with her father, two uncles, an aunt and an aunt by marriage, but her mom had passed away during childbirth.

"What was she saying, sweetie?" Caroline asked. Bullying was not tolerated at the school, so Caroline needed to nut out the problem to see whether it was a one time thing, or whether it was recurring.

"She said my mummy doesn't love me, and that's why I don't have one. But my mummy's actually dead."

It was breaking Caroline's heart watching the poor little girl confront the fact her mother was _dead_. Eva was from the third grade, so Caroline would have to talk to Bonnie, who was her teacher, about having a talk with her students regarding bullying, and picking on the younger students.

"I'm so sorry that's happened, sweetie."

Just then the bell rang signalling the end of lunchtime.

"How about you stay out here for a little bit, Hope. You can finish your lunch and maybe come in when you feel a little better. Does that sound okay?"

Hope nodded sadly and took a few calming breaths.

"I'll just be in the classroom if you need anything, okay?"

Hope nodded again, and leant against the nearest tree, and began eating her lunch.

"Cassie, would you be able to take the class for ten minutes," Caroline asked her teacher's aid. "I just need to make a phone call."

Cassie agreed, and Caroline went into the office, picking up the phone and dialling Hope's home phone number.

" _Whoever you are better have a good reason to bother me,"_ a gruff male voice said irritably on the other end of the line.

"Hello, is that Mr Klaus Mikaelson?" Caroline asked politely.

" _It is. Who are you and what do you want?"_

Caroline sighed; did he have to be rude?

"I'm Caroline Forbes, I teach your daughter…"

" _Is Hope okay? Has she been hurt?"_ Klaus interrupted, though his voice was no longer irritated, but anxious.

"She hasn't been hurt. But there was an incident with one of the older students, and she's quite upset. I was hoping whether you'd be able to pick her up after school, so you and I can discuss the issue further."

" _Anything,"_ Klaus said fervently. He may be a workaholic and an arsehole, but he'd do anything for his daughter. _"Does she want me to pick her up now?"_

"I think it would be best if she stayed here. Thank you for agreeing to meet me. I'll see you later."

" _Goodbye."_

Caroline hung up the phone and went back into her classroom to resume the class.

About twenty minutes later, Hope re-joined the class, and Caroline smiled encouragingly at her. She was still a little bit red and puffy, but she participated in all the remaining activities, and by the time the end of the day rolled around, Hope was back to her usual bouncy self.

As the bell rang for the end of the day, Caroline said goodbye to the other students, and quickly ducked out to have a word with Bonnie about Eva.

When she got back, Mr Mikaelson and Hope's aunt Rebekah were standing with her, waiting for Caroline.

He looked livid.

"Hope," Caroline said kindly, "Why don't you take your aunt to play on the playground while I have a chat with you dad. Does that sound good?"

The little girl nodded brightly and pulled her aunt behind her.

"Come into the classroom, Mr Mikaelson, we can talk in there."

It didn't escape Caroline's notice that the man was one damn fine specimen. He was toned, with floppy curls on the top of his head, and perfectly kissable raspberry red lips.

"What the fuck is going to happen to the little pest that is bullying my daughter?" Klaus spat, as Caroline closed the classroom door behind her.

"Language please, Mr Mikaelson," Caroline corrected – she was a first grade teacher, so shoot her for pulling people up for their foul language.

"Like that matters!" He bellowed at her. "If some _insect_ is telling my daughter she deserves a dead mother I want the other student thrown out of school!"

"Mr Mikaelson, please calm down," Caroline said soothingly. "Come on, have a seat. Would you like a cup of tea or something?"

"What?"

"Would you like some tea?"

"No thank you," he said shortly.

"How about a lolly from the jar? That usually makes me feel better?" Caroline smiled widely at him. The faster he calmed down, the faster he would be able to think straight.

"Fine, whatever."

Caroline offered Klaus her chair, while she perched herself on the edge of her desk.

"From my understanding a student from the third grade said something to Hope, obviously upsetting her."

"If you dare tell me my daughter was overreacting Miss Forbes, I will make sure you are fired."

Caroline was about fed up with his rudeness.

"Look, pal," Caroline started angrily, "I have been very nice to you, but if you don't stop interrupting while I'm trying to talk to you, then I'll have to put you on the naughty mat, or something! I teach six years olds, and they're less petulant than you're acting right now!"

Klaus gaped at her. Through his blind rage at someone hurting his daughter, Klaus hadn't registered that, one, he was being rude, and two that this teacher was actually very attractive.

She gave off a kind Miss-Honey-from-Matilda vibe, and it was little wonder, looking around at all the bright colours, that Hope spoke very highly of Miss Forbes.

"I'm sorry," Klaus said looking at his feet.

"That's okay. Trust me, I'm nearly as upset as you are. Hope is such a good student, and watching her cry today was one of the hardest things I've had to do since I became a teacher," Caroline said earnestly. "But Eva's teacher assures me this is a first time thing for Eva, so there's little we can do. I'll keep a close eye on them both, but unless it happens again I can't get involved."

Klaus gritted his teeth. "And I suppose hiring a hitman to take out the little welp would be against school protocol I presume."

Caroline chuckled. The noise was light and tinkering, and Klaus found his anger ebbing away slightly. How could he be laughing with someone so beautiful and be upset?

"That would _definitely_ be against protocols, Mr Mikaelson. Though I commend your creativity."

Klaus smiled at her.

"Thank you for letting me know the situation, Miss Forbes. I'm sorry for lashing out earlier."

"It's okay."

"I just hate seeing her upset. She knows she missing out on something important, but how do I fill that gap?"

Caroline smiled sympathetically at him, and placed a hand on his, trying to simultaneously make him understand there was nothing he could do, and lift the burden of single parenthood off his shoulders.

"You can't, trust me. I grew up in a single parent household, and my mom worked all the time. No matter how much adults around me trying to fill the void my dad left, no one could. You just have to accept it and be the best dad you can be. Don't try and be more."

Klaus smiled softly, and met her gaze. Her big blue eyes swimming with caring and emotion. No one had ever looked like that at him.

"Thank you, Miss Forbes."

"Caroline," she said, holding out her hand for him to shake, so they could be introduced properly.

"Klaus." He flashed his dimples at her grasped her hand, and held her gaze for a little longer than appropriate.

"I'll see you round, Klaus," Caroline smiled.

xxx

A few days later, Caroline was walking up the five flights of stairs to her apartment.

When she reached her front door, there was a huge bunch of roses waiting for her.

Awestruck, she picked them up, searching for a note.

She found a tightly furled bit of paper and a business card, for one Niklaus Mikaelson, in the middle. Unrolling the paper she gasped as she saw a beautiful sketch of her with a laughing Hope. On the back was a hand written note.

 _Caroline,_

 _Thank you for your honesty and kind words the other day._

 _It means a lot. You seemed to turn out very well for a single parent child. It gives me hope._

 _Love, Klaus._

 _P.S. I have reservations for a lovely little Italian restaurant for this evening, at eight. If you'd like to join me, call the number on the card._


	5. I Won the Pool!

Caroline bounded into to her lecture happily before immediately groaning.

There _he_ was.

Once again.

Caroline fervently rolled her eyes, as though sheer will power would make _him_ leave the class.

"What's got your panties in a twist?" Katherine smirked, as she came up beside her best friend.

" _Him_ ," Caroline gritted out, narrowing her eyes at the offending male.

Every week he sat in the same spot, completely nameless, and opinion-less, all the while looking stupidly attractive.

And every week he'd stare at the page in front of him and doodle – sorry, _sketch_ , as she heard him call it once – appearing as though he was paying absolutely no attention whatsoever.

Katherine's smirk grew wider, which only baited Caroline into elaborating.

"Urgh! What's he even doing here? This is a _women's_ studies class!" Caroline exclaimed. "He is _not_ a woman!"

"No, he most certainly is not," Katherine quipped, giving the man an appreciative once -over.

"Oh, stop it, Kat!" Caroline hissed, as the lecturer began speaking. "He's not even attractive."

Although, Caroline knew that was a lie. A _total_ lie.

The man was probably the most attractive and sexy man she'd ever clapped eyes on. He was lean, but she could still see sinewy muscles bunching up under his comfortable cotton Henley. His lips looked as though they would be softer than clouds, but would delivered a promise to do sinful things to her body. On top of that, they were such a naturally beautiful shade of raspberry, Caroline just _knew_ he was a lady-killer. He had sharp, high cheekbones and the perfect masculine nose. But what topped off his illegally sexy look, was the manly stubble that covered his face.

Before university, Caroline had always gone for the straight-down-the-line, clean-shaven good boys – safe and caring, but not exactly exciting. But after she'd been dumped by her high school boyfriend, Tyler, midway through her freshman year at college, Caroline had become much more into the bad boys with dodgy morals. She'd had her heart broken on several occasions, but it was _so_ exhilarating while it lasted.

And this guy _definitely_ looked like he would fit the bill.

But that was beside the point. _Totally_ beside the point.

"Why would he even take this class?" Caroline muttered to Katherine, as the lecturer kept droning on about some feminist movement. "He probably thinks if he looks sexy enough he can sleep with the unit coordinator, and automatically pass."

Katherine's smile widened even further. "What happened to 'he's not even attractive'?"

"He's not," Caroline spluttered. "I just meant… he _thinks_ he is… I don't think that… Not at all… Don't give me that face, Pierce! You can just always tell the cocky ones… They sit different. Shut up!"

"Sure, sure," Katherine giggled.

Caroline shot Katherine a death stare and was about to open her mouth to give Katherine a piece of her mind when she heard a throat clearing.

"Are you two quite finished?"

Caroline felt her face colour.

She had _never_ disrupted a class before. Ever. Like _ever._

"Oh, my gosh, Germaine," Caroline gushed out apologetically. "I'm so _so_ sorry for interrupting. It won't happen again."

Katherine continued smirking at Caroline's ramblings. Kat was no stranger to being called out in class, and she knew if you just shut up, the lecturer would just give you the stink eye, before going back to what they were talking about. The more you apologised, the more they would talk about it.

"If you're so _sorry_ , why don't you explain your understanding of the area of unequal female-male platonic relationships?"

Caroline looked blankly at the woman at the front of the lecture hall, very _very_ aware of all the eyes in the room staring at her.

"The what?" Caroline asked, shamefaced and floundering. To be honest, she really hadn't been paying any attention to what was going on in the class.

"Explain your ideas on 'the friend zone'," the lecturer said, using air quotes around the last three words, as though the term was offensive somehow.

Relief flooded her body. She knew what the friend zone was, and exactly how to explain it.

"The friend-zone, is a form of female empowerment," Caroline said, confidently, and all the girls in the room nodded their heads in agreement. "It's not about using your body as a way of controlling men, but it is about gaining power over them. Because the minute you sleep with them, you lose that power."

The rest of the girls in the theatre were murmuring and smiling around at each other, all in agreement over their supposedly shared understanding of the idea friend zone had brought in a world where they had scramble for every inch of control over the male gender.

"A guy isn't placed in the friend-zone intentionally for this reason, but it serves the purpose of giving woman some power over men instead of them thinking they have dominance!"

Caroline finished her triumphant speech, and a cheer went around the room as all the girls showed their sister solidarity.

The ruckus in the room was dying down as a voice piped up.

"That's not what the friend zone is about, love."

The voice was gravelly and masculine, and Caroline whipped her around, her eyes locking with the only male in the class.

 _God,_ Caroline thought. _He has an accent._

"Excuse me?" Caroline countered.

Caroline's eyes met his, and sparks flew. She retracted her previous statement. The eyes topped off his illegally attractive look. They were a piercing blue, and had a deep, dark tortured look to them. The intensity of his stare had Caroline completely forgetting there was anyone else in the room.

Gee, this man was sexy.

"The friend zone isn't about 'female empowerment'. It's about male narcissism."

Caroline frowned at him, at a loss to what his point was.

Sexy he may be… But he lost points for being misogynistic.

"Typical. Trust the only male in the _women's_ studies class to make it about _men_ ," Caroline snapped nastily.

He raised a challenging eyebrow at her, and got to his feet.

Caroline felt her stomach clench slightly as he rose. Not once did their eye contact break, even as he began talking to the lecturer.

"If you don't mind, Germaine, could I disrupt the class further to raise my concerns with Miss Forbes' understanding, as well as outlining my own opinion on the area of unequal female-male platonic relationships?"

The lecturer nodded approvingly, a shrewd smile playing on her lips, watching the electric chemistry between the two students.

"Thank you," he said. "While I agree with your statement about females often placing males in the friend zone unintentionally, it's not about woman gaining power over men. It's about men putting a label on women for their right to say no."

There were no longer any eyes staring at Caroline, except for his. Caroline could honestly not remember ever seeing a more beautiful pair of eyes.

"A few weeks ago, Miss Forbes, you made a very good point about female sexual objectification, and so I'm surprised you'd see the friend zone as a way of using your womanly wiles to have men do your bidding."

Caroline's eyes went wide. The bastard listened to her. He actually listened! He spent every class _sketching_ , when the hell would he have time to listen?

"Though I digress."

He flashed his dimples at her, and Caroline felt knees go slightly weak.

"The kind of men who use terms like 'the friend zone' are also the kind of men who see themselves as god's gift to the world, and can't seem to understand why women don't want to have sex with them. By creating this fictitious 'zone' – whereby women place men they don't want to sleep with and generating all this stigma around women who use the 'friend zone' to take advantage of men – men are able to create a reason for why _they_ think women say 'no' to their cock."

A few of the girls let out giggles at his language, but others' faces had their brows creased as if considering his point with a great deal of thought.

"So, it brings me back to my point. The friend zone is about men being too narcissistic to understand why women don't want to sleep with them."

With that very concise ending, the guy sat back in his chair and continued to look at her with those soul-searching eyes, and smug little smirk.

"I hate to agree with that analysis, Miss Forbes. But he's right. The friend zone is the label men give to a women's right to say 'no', just as 'slut' is the label they give for a woman's right to say 'yes'. But thank you, both, for your contributions today, I'm always keen for some lively lecture debate."

Caroline knew her mouth was agape. She knew her eyes were as round as dinner plates. She knew she was still dumbly standing. And she _knew_ the lecturer had closed the discussion, so she should sit down.

But _what the hell had just even happened?_

 _That guy_ had just totally shut her down. Like _completely._ How could have even happen?

 _And,_ she couldn't believe she was going to even _think_ this, but he actually had a good point. He had completely unravelled the _true_ meaning of the friend zone; a concept which had, apparently, gone completely over the heads of the forty-seven other self-proclaimed feminists in the class.

Caroline felt a tugging on her hand and she _finally_ broke eye contact with _him_ , looking down to see Katherine smiling sympathetically up at her.

"Come on, Care," she whispered. "I know it's not everyday someone beats you at something, but sit down, it'll be okay."

Caroline sat down, stupidly, before throwing one last look at the guy. He merely flicked his eyebrows at her wickedly, turning back to his page, and seeming to zone out once again.

She tried to focus on what Germaine was saying. She really did.

But she couldn't.

She was the top of the _whole freaking unit_ for god's sake, how could she let someone else – especially _him_ – one up her?

How?

xxx

A couple of weeks passed, and semester had finally ended. Caroline had _never_ been more relieved to see the end of a school term. _Ever._

This semester ending meant she only had one left until she would graduate. It also meant she would _never_ had to deal with _that guy_ again.

Over the last weeks of the course, he had gone back to completely ignoring everything the lecturer said, but when marks had been posted, Caroline had only narrowly beaten him for top of the class, and it just made her blood boil. She worked ridiculously hard for that class, and he could just sit there _sketch_ and still almost beat her‽

But it was okay now. No more women's studies with douche-y dirtwads for Caroline. Now she could go back to being her optimistic self.

Almost.

"But why, Kol?" She grumbled down the phone to her housemate.

" _I don't like the thought of you all alone over Christmas, and my family is excited to have you. Maybe your presence will remind father to behave."_

"But Kol!" Caroline groaned exasperatedly. "The drive to New Orleans is _so_ long. And I can't afford to fly! And who cares if I have to be alone for Christmas, it's not any different from the last three years."

" _I care, Caroline,"_ Kol said earnestly and Caroline rolled her eyes impatiently; Kol only ever used her first name when he was being serious.

She and Kol had been best friends since summer after senior year of high school. Caroline had taken a solo trip to New York to reward herself for finishing high school. Which was where Kol came in. The two of them met in a bar, got drunk and had been inseparable ever since.

"But they're _your_ family, Kol. You should spend time with them."

Kol's family were from England originally, but had moved to New Orleans around the time Caroline met him. Kol was _supposed_ to go to Tulane, but being the rebel he was had decided to go to Whitmore to keep Caroline company.

" _You're my family too, Care. And I don't want you sitting alone in our big house, drinking mulled wine and missing your parents. My family is big and rowdy enough to share."_

She and Kol had moved in together at the start of sophomore year, after both deciding on campus housing was _awful_ and he had also been the one to help her through her mother's death.

" _Please come, Care."_

Caroline sighed and knew she couldn't say no. Not now. Not after he said 'please'. And used the puppy dog voice.

"Fine. But I refuse to be your pretend girlfriend to make that Davina girl jealous like last time, okay?"

" _Deal. You have directions?"_

"Yeah, I'll see you later."

" _Bye, Carebear!"_

Caroline rolled her eyes.

She loved Kol. She really did.

But the stories he told about his family were not endearing.

She threw herself back on the bed, sighing frustrated.

How had she let him talk her into this?

xxx

Klaus groaned.

14 hours.

He would be driving for _14 hours._

 _And it was 5 o'clock in the morning._

What in the name of all that was good possessed him to agree to do this?

 _First,_ he'd let his siblings talk him into taking his semester abroad – as part of his degree through Cambridge – in the States – of all places – rather than somewhere actually culturally developed. Klaus was just glad he chose to study with Kol at Whitmore, rather than at Tulane, where he'd have to be in the same city as Mikael. That was something that hadn't happened in at least six years.

Then, in some stupid moment of vulnerability, he'd let Rebekah and Henrik talk him into coming for a 'family Christmas'. How the hell had he let that happen? He would literally be in the same _room_ as Mikael. That would _not_ go down well.

 _Then_ he'd let Kol talk him into driving. Kol would be flying the day after semester ended, and Klaus was planning on leaving it as close to Christmas day he could, so as not to spend too much time with his parents. Kol had convinced Klaus to drive, because then Kol wouldn't have to deal with the car in Whitmore after Klaus left – Klaus was very particular about his car, didn't like to leave it on its own for too long (he'd even had it shipped over from the UK while on exchange).

He couldn't believe he'd let any of this happen. He was happy leading his bachelor lifestyle in London. His family were too much hard work.

And now he was beginning the stupidly long trip to get to his exasperating family, and he was frustrated. _So_ frustrated.

To make matters worse, the car he was tailing was a violent and head-achingly bright shade of pink.

There was no doubt in Klaus' mind the driver of such a visually draining car was a ditsy Barbie girl. Her car was literally the same shade of pink as one of Rebekah's Barbie cars from when she was young.

To top off the absurdity and intolerability of the situation, she was blasting _Disney_ music, of all the awful things.

Klaus could hear every note from the opening of A Girl Worth Fighting For to Breaking Free (he hated how he knew which song it was and where it came from – damn High School Musical and damn Rebekah's bizarre 24/7 fangirling over it) – all the way through the music The Lion King, Tangled and every other god forsaken Disney movie known to man – to the closing notes of Zip-A-Dee-Do-Dah.

He threw back his head in frustration.

He _wanted_ to believe he wasn't going to be stuck behind her the _whole way to New Orleans,_ but with every town they drove through, and with every passing mile it became less and less likely.

He'd been tailing her, and her dreadful Disney tunes for the last _nine freaking hours_ so the probability of following her the rest of the way was high.

With five hours remaining in his trip, Klaus seemed to go through something akin to the five stages of grief.

He started out feeling isolated from all things normal. The car was just _so_ pink! The sheer vivacity of the colour practically drowned out the entire world.

With four hours left, he began to get angry. Who the hell did this woman think she was? She was driving a few miles above the speed limit, so he couldn't even overtake her to get away from her! So inconsiderate.

As the two cars sped through Evergreen, Alabama, Klaus' anger evaporated and he began trying to regain control of his faculties, which the car in front had stripped him of. Every time they'd pass a turn off he'd think secretly _'if you turn off now, and I can stop following you, I will give up sex and become a monk'._

When he only had to drive for two more hours, Klaus sunk into a deep depression. It was hard being him. For that hour the pink car somehow represented all the horrible things in his life, and he couldn't pin point why, other than _he was completely sick of driving behind something so awfully girly!_

With one hour to go, Klaus finally managed to find his peace. Who cares if he had to follow behind such a loud vehicle? In another hour, he would have arrived at his destination and he would never have to deal with her and her stupidly pink car ever again.

xxx

Caroline groaned.

14 hours.

She would be driving for _14 freaking hours!_

 _And it was five in the goddamn morning!_

How had she let Kol talk her into this?

Okay, if she was honest, she _was_ kind of excited.

Every Christmas since her mother died, she would mope around her house, alone, wishing she had a family to be part of.

And at least this year she would. Even if it was Kol's crazy, larger than life family.

As she drove, Caroline thought on the little she knew of Kol's family.

She'd met Rebekah a few times. She was a brat, but she was also really funny and a good friend once you got passed the whole I'm-to-cool-to-care persona.

Finn was 'boring' according to Kol, but he apparently he could cook better than anyone Kol knew.

" _Apart from his culinary skills, the only exciting thing about Finn is his very hot wife."_

Caroline had met Elijah on a couple of occasions – mostly when he would visit Whitmore to scold Kol for having 'too much fun' and 'not doing enough study'. He was a surgeon, was very polite, very proper, and Caroline was _sure_ he and Katherine had hooked up his last visit. But Katherine never confirmed her suspicions, and Elijah was above talking about crass topics.

Caroline never met Henrik, but Kol had said somehow, even though he was the spoilt youngest child, he was the sweetest in the family.

" _He may be the baby in the family, but he's going to grow up to be just as charming as me!"_

Then there was Nik. Or Klaus. She couldn't really work out which was his proper name. Caroline knew he was currently going to Whitmore as part of an exchange but Kol had done his utmost to keep them away from each other. According to Kol, Nik/Klaus was a cocky, lady-killing, impatient temperamental jerk.

" _Those traits, sweet Caroline, are what makes Nik my favourite brother. But I strongly advise you to_ never _get caught in his trap."_

She knew Esther was a well-known interior designer with a love for never being around and Mikael was a lawyer with a temper.

" _They mean well, Caroline,"_ Kol said a couple of weeks earlier. _"But shouldn't have been allowed to have children. That's probably why my siblings and I are all basket cases."_

She'd been driving for a few hours now, and there was a black Jaguar following closely behind her.

She frowned. She could have _sworn_ that same car had left Whitmore the same time she had.

Caroline just brushed it off. She couldn't be the only person from the college going south for the Christmas.

As the hours passed, Caroline steadily became more and more bored. She'd listened through the first two Harry Potter audiobooks, stopped for snacks thrice, and was coming up on her fourth time listening to her entire catalogue of Disney songs.

The black car was still following her, and she was starting to get more and more suspicious. Every time she turned onto a new stretch of road, the sleek vehicle would turn too.

She'd seen the Truman Show, and she couldn't help but be a little paranoid about whether the car behind her was actually secretly tailing her, because her whole life was really a TV show – though that was impossible, she wasn't interesting or a vampire or anything… there was no way, in any alternate universe, a TV show was being made about her life… was there?

Anyway, that was beside the point.

As she counted down the last five hours until she reached New Orleans, Caroline seemed to be going the through the five stages of grief, though in reverse.

She started out accepting the car. It wasn't following her, or tailing her, or anything. It was just driving to New Orleans from Whitmore, just as she was. It wasn't speeding, or tail gating her, so it was okay. It didn't matter. She could just ignore it and drive her merry way.

Then the car began to make her feel depressed. It was such a sad looking car. All black and tinted windows. She could just see the driver in her rear vision mirror, and he looked angry. He had black glasses, and black clothes, and his car was black. He must be a jaded lonely man.

When she had only three hours left of the stupidly long drive, she began bargaining with the car. Every time they'd pass a side road, or a be at a T-junction Caroline would say think _now, now's the time I'm going to lose it,_ or _if only I'd gone the longer route, I wouldn't be stuck in this terrible circle, with this terrible black car._

She was passing through Mobile, Alabama – after her final snack break of the trip – when the bargaining turned to anger.

"Why can't you just leave me alone?!" She screeched, as sped down the highway, munching on a massive corndog, in an attempt to eat away her feelings.

As she got into the New Orleans city limits, Caroline pulled out the directions Kol had given her and started denying the car was following her.

Left, right, left again and the car was still behind her. But it wasn't following her. She was the only one left in a world full of darkness.

Right, second exit off the roundabout, right – the car was still behind her.

As she reached the end of the Kol's street, and the car was _still_ behind her, Caroline's anger and paranoia returned in full force.

Who the bloody hell did this guy think he was though? He couldn't intimidate her with his flash car, and his Big Brother tendencies.

She pulled up outside the number Kol gave her and blanched.

The nerve of him.

THE ACTUAL NERVE OF HIM!

The actual-freaking-stupid-fancy-black-car-big-brother nerve of him!

He'd pulled up just behind her.

She had her game face on now.

She was _Caroline Forbes_ andif he thought she was just going to let him get one over on her, then he had other things coming. She was no damsel in distress.

She angrily kicked open her car door, and stalked over to the offending male as he was exiting his vehicle, who looked nearly as suspicious of her as she was of him.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Caroline shrieked, as she pinned him to the car with an angry palm to his chest – a very hard chest if she was honest, but again, that wasn't the point.

"You've been following me ever since I left Whitmore. I don't know what you think you're doing, or who you work for. And _'Hybrid'_ on your number plate? Are you serious? At least if it was a hybrid vehicle, which it's not! AND LIKE why are you wearing sunglasses? It's like ten o'clock at night! _And_ for the record I HAVE READ 1984, BUDDY, AND I KNOW BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING! I will not be kept captive by a television station! Do you hear me? Report back to your mothership or producers, or whatever, and tell them I will not be silenced!"

When Caroline finished up her speech, he chest was heaving, but she was proud with how articulately she'd made her point.

She looked closer at the man who was pinned under her hand.

Black sunglasses covered his eyes, but the rest of his face and body was in full vision. He was high cheek boned, with full raspberry lips, and a very attractive amount of stubble adorning his cheeks. Caroline almost felt bad she'd just screamed at him. He was an extremely handsome man, and somehow… familiar…

He raised his own hand to his glasses pulling them off, leaving Caroline with a perfect view of his eyes. His piercing blue eyes.

Her own eyes widened, her brain sparking off a memory. It couldn't be.

"Sweetheart, I don't know who you think _you_ are, or why you're outside _my_ house. But…"

He stopped, his threat dying in his throat as he too recognised her.

"You," Caroline whispered.

All traces of menace left him, and suddenly his demeanour changed to cocky and smug, a self-satisfied smirk creeping onto his face.

In her distraction, he flipped them over so Caroline was now pinned to the car, and his face was inches away from her.

"Hello again, love," he breathed into her ear, as he trailed his nose lightly down her cheek.

Caroline shuddered as his breath fanned over the side of her face and down her neck, and she breathed in his masculine scent..

"Lovely to see you again."

Caroline angrily pushed him away and stalked back to her car in an effort to hide her racing pulse, which had skyrocketed at his proximity.

"What the hell do you mean this is 'your house'?" Caroline spat.

"I mean, this is my house? How much clearer do I have to be? Or do you need it spelt out in big letters for you? Seeing as we both know you're not the brightest Barbie in the toy box."

"Excuse me?" Caroline exclaimed.

"Well you did somehow completely miss the point of the friend zone, love. Not very _bright_ for a someone who considers themself a feminist."

Caroline's cheeks reddened, remembering her mistake from a few weeks earlier. She couldn't believe he'd thrown it in her face like that. The nerve of him.

"You're a real card, you know that?" Caroline said nastily. "You follow me all the way here, like some creepy stalker, and then you feed me bullshit about this being _your house_! Why would you even do that?"

"Because _this is my house_ , you imbecile!" he roared exasperatedly.

The shouting match between the two of them had not gone unnoticed by passers-by, nor by residents of the street. All of whom were peaking suspiciously through their curtains, as the domestic scene played out.

Caroline was just about to open her mouth to retort when –

"Caroline? Nik?"

The two of them froze, both turning towards the source of the voice. There was Kol, standing shirtless in the middle of the dimly lit street, ten o'clock at night. He looked half amused and half incredulous.

"I should have known tonight was too good to be true," Kol said, as Caroline and Klaus continued to stand dumbly in front of him. "I finally get Davina too come home with me, and you two go and ruin it because you can't keep your voices down."

Caroline looked apologetic. Klaus just looked annoyed.

"Anyway," Kol added. "Elijah's here, but everyone else will be back tomorrow night. Ask him if you need anything or fend for yourselves. I'm going back to Davina. Talk to you in the morning."

As Kol left, Klaus turned to Caroline.

" _You're_ Caroline?" he asked, nastily.

"Nice to meet you, _Nik,_ " Caroline shot back, with a fake smile.

"It's Klaus."

"Right," Caroline drawled. "First of all, what kind of name is 'Klaus'? Second of all, why do you feel the need to have two names, _Nik?"_

Klaus' scowl deepened at Caroline's continued use of 'Nik'. Only Kol, Bekah and Henrik called him that, and it annoyed him whenever anyone else tried.

"I can't believe the girl Kol's so attached to is _you_. I knew his taste in women was bad. But you?" Klaus said, giving Caroline a judgemental once-over, as though to press home his point of Kol's bad taste.

Klaus didn't really know why he said it. He knew Kol and Caroline were best friends, with nothing romantic at all between them.

But he couldn't help the tug of jealousy at in the pit of his stomach as he thought of anyone else touching the goddess of a woman in front of him.

She really was something else entirely. Gorgeous curly blonde hair, long legs, and a smile that lit up the entire street. She was just beautiful.

But it didn't matter, after their screaming match just now, Klaus had been completely turned off by her.

Well… Almost completely.

"I don't know why you're even here? Don't you have your own family to go to over Christmas?"

Caroline bristled. She didn't honestly. But he didn't know that.

"God, you a jerk," Caroline snapped. "Look, I don't have to like you or even talk to you. I'm only here because Kol said 'please' and used my full name, rather than a nickname. So just stay out of my way."

With that, Caroline grabbed her bag from the car, and flounced inside.

Klaus wasn't sure how he managed to let her have the last word.

xxx

Two sleeps later, Christmas morning began cheerful and cold over the Mikaelson house.

Christmas Eve had proved rather uneventful, but for the house flooding with the rest of the family.

Rebekah had come along with stories of her new boyfriend, Enzo, who was apparently 'the love of her life' – though everyone in the house was _sure_ they'd met 'the love of her life' last family gathering… and it certainly wasn't someone named Enzo.

Finn and Sage had arrived from their house in Chicago.

And Esther and Mikael had returned from their trip, along with Henrik.

Caroline was happy for the first Christmas in years, and Kol was proud he'd brought a smile to her face.

There was laughter, and fun, a little bit of family drama – but that happened in all families.

Everyone was relieved Mikael and Klaus were behaving. Neither of them were being particularly pleasant or even very civil with each other. But they had refrained from having a proper Mikael vs Klaus 'argument' yet – which was _very_ good seeing as the Mikaelson's usually referred to Mikael and Klaus' fights as the verbal equivalent of nuclear war. And after a day of being in the same city, that was saying something.

Klaus took the relative peace with his stepfather as an indication that Mikael was _finally_ getting over the fact Klaus wasn't his biological son.

Most of the rest of the house, however, knew this was not the reason. No, the reason Klaus and Mikael weren't fighting as usual was because Klaus was too busy being distracted with other things.

Beautiful, blonde, leggy things with sharp tongues.

And it certainly wasn't his sister distracting him.

Caroline floated around the house, charming all the other Mikaelsons effortlessly with mere smiles and laughs. She thanked them for having her, she cleared dishes after meals. She was the perfect picture of pretty perfection.

But Klaus yearned to see the fire in her eyes, and the challenge between her teeth, just as he had the previous night and during their class together.

Whenever she'd open her mouth to say something in his vicinity, Klaus would roll his eyes, or groan loudly, or make some comment on her being blonde, thus not knowing what she was talking about.

It infuriated her beyond belief and she'd snap at him, or throw him a withering stare, and Klaus revelled in watching her squirm.

Their banter was of a very high calibre, and Klaus found Caroline was actually fiercely intelligent. It just made him want to prod her more.

Caroline tried to fight the thrill that shot through her whenever Klaus so much as looked at her. But as Christmas Eve wore on, it became harder and harder.

He was so painfully attractive, but also funny and smart. Despite the fact he annoyed the absolute _hell_ out of her, she found herself secretly enjoying every interaction they shared.

Presents on Christmas morning were another enjoyable affair. Caroline was very touched to know that despite not being part of the family, the Mikaelsons had still gone out of their way to include her in the gifting tradition.

As the morning rolled into lunch Klaus teased her to the point of hysteria and as though fate planned it – or maybe it was Kol – Caroline ended up sitting next to Klaus. The two snipped and sniped at each other throughout the whole meal, much to the entertainment of the rest of the family.

As food wound up, Caroline jumped up and began to clear plates before Esther could. The Mikaelson housekeepers had the day off, and Caroline – the true southern belle at heart – couldn't let the hosts of the day do the tidying up as well.

"Oh Caroline, dear. You don't have to do that," Esther implored.

"That's okay, Mrs Mikaelson. _Nik_ will help me, won't you, Nik."

"Nik will bloody well not!" Klaus blanched.

The polite look vanished from her face as Caroline fixed him with her most commanding stare. It was a stare she saved for those who under-performed back in her high school cheer squad. A stare she used on Kol when he had the gall to do one of his girls on their couch while she was home. It was a stare that could move a meek mountain.

And it was a stare that inspired Klaus Mikaelson to get up and help clear the table.

As the two blondes began bickering about who would do what in the kitchen, there was silence around the table, as the family watched the scene unfold. No one had _ever_ been able to make Klaus do something he didn't want to do. Ever.

When they left, arms laden with plates still griping at each other, Rebekah piped up, "I'm putting $100 on them banging on New Years Day. Anyone else?"

"Oh Rebekah, dear, have some class," Esther scolded her daughter.

"I'll put hundred on them not banging yet, but by next Christmas they'll be in a committed relationship," Sage added.

"Fifty on them not sleeping together, but they will have a New Years kiss," Finn said.

"I'll put fifty dollars in if we stoptalking about Nik having sex with _anyone._ Let alone Caroline," Henrik said, squirming in his seat.

"Jealous, little brother?" Rebekah asked teasingly. It was no secret Henrik was a little taken with Caroline.

"No!" Henrik exclaimed, defensively.

"You are a bunch of fools," Mikael growled. "I put fifty on the girl having more sense than to sleep with _Niklaus_ of all people."

"Be nice, father," Elijah sighed. "Seeing as we seem to be doing this. I'll place a hundred dollars on Miss Forbes succumbing to Niklaus' charms by the 27th, but only kissing. She is much too refined for sex so soon after meeting."

At Elijah's statement, everyone left at the table began talking over top of each other, justifying their opinions and Rebekah and Sage getting excited about the adorable babies Klaus and Caroline would produce.

Kol looked helplessly around at his family.

This was the _exact_ reason he'd never let Caroline meet Klaus. Because they were perfect for each other. Caroline was bright and sunshine-y enough to counteract Klaus' doom and gloom, while still being cynical and jaded enough to remain interesting. Kol sighed, he really didn't want Klaus to break her heart.

But he knew his family was right, now they'd met, there was no going back for either of them.

"$150 on them doing it before tomorrow."

The squabbling faces turned towards Kol, all of them disbelieving he would put such high stakes on it.

Kol supposed he was at a considerable advantage, seeing as none of the family knew Caroline like he did. He knew Caroline had been abstinent for a good number of months, and he knew she tended to go for men like Klaus. And he knew judging by their wicked sexual tension, Klaus would only have to lay on the charm, and she would be putty in his hands.

And he also knew the perfect way to goad his brother into action.

Perhaps it was rigging the bet… but if it won him $400, he didn't care.

"That much?"

"Yep."

"Done."

xxx

"Who you talking to?" Kol asked, sitting down beside his best friend, who was texting on the couch in front of the fire.

It was now Christmas evening, and all of the Mikaelsons and Caroline were completely exhausted from the excitement of the day.

Most of the family had already retired to their own rooms to commence their rests, only remaining out of bed were Caroline, Kol, Elijah and Klaus.

Klaus had been AWOL for the last few hours, and Caroline tried to ignore the tug of disappointment in her belly. She didn't like Klaus. Not at all. Not in the slightest.

"Stefan," Caroline replied a little too casually, giving Kol a suspicious glance.

Stefan was Caroline's old friend from high school, who also went to Whitmore. Caroline and Stefan were forever texting funny stories or sex tips back and forth to the other. They would also coach other of through something they weren't confident in, offering advice and counsel if needed. Caroline loved that their friendship would never be ruined by romance, because she was _not_ Stefan's type.

The next lesson Stefan had requested of Caroline was a 'how to execute the perfect romantic dinner' because Stefan had a new boyfriend, and wanted to do something special for their next date. And Caroline was going to have Stefan teach her how to sext without looking _too_ un-classy, because it wasn't something she'd managed to thoroughly grasp.

If Caroline was honest, she was a little suspicious of why Stefan had out of the blue text her on _Christmas Day_ for their sexting lesson. But she was going with it. It wasn't like she had nothing anything to lose.

"What are you talking about?" Kol smirked knowingly, as Caroline's phone chimed distinctively, and her eyes widened reading the message.

"Nothing, Kol! Jeez!" Caroline snapped defensively. She may be going with the whole sexting Stefan thing, but that didn't mean she wasn't embarrassed about it.

"Okay, I know when I'm not wanted," he chuckled amicably, before whispering conspiratorially, "Just don't let anyone read over your shoulder."

Caroline looked at her friend like a deer in the headlights.

"How did you…?"

"Because, Sweet Caroline," he said jovially getting to his feet. "I know that look."

"What look?"

"That one! The I'm-imagining-dirty-things look. You always have it on just before I hear your _special bunny_ fire up"

With that, Kol was gone, and Caroline was left gaping on the couch..

xxx

"Nik! How was Marcel?" Kol asked, a little too brightly, as he slipped his phone into his pocket surreptitiously.

"Well thanks, brother," Klaus replied suspiciously. "What are you up to?"

"Oh nothing. Caroline's on the couch."

Klaus pretended this information was of no interest to him, even if his insides did a little backflip. "Why would I care?"

"No reason," Kol smirked. "Night brother."

Kol bounded upstairs, knowing Klaus would take the bait.

If Klaus stayed true to form, he would sneak up behind Caroline and to try and gauge what she was doing before letting his presence known. And in Caroline's distracted state, she would notice him.

Kol repulled his phone out of his pocket, smirking at his absolute genius, before sending off a text message of his own.

 _ **K – Thanks mate. Klaus took the bait. Hope Caroline takes yours.**_

 _ **S – No problem.**_

xxx

As Kol left Caroline's phone buzzed again, and she turned her attention back to the screen.

 _ **S – So, third step is to reel them in with a something a little more than flirty, but a step below graphic. Then tease some more.**_

 _ **C – Okay, but how do I do that?**_

 _ **S – Be creative. Around now, send a sexy picture. Then describe something a graphic to whomever you're texting.**_

 _ **C – Can you retell me the steps? Then I'll try.**_

 _ **S - Build tension. Tease a little. Less graphic example of what you want to do. Tease again. Picture. More graphic example. Got it?**_

Despite the fact Stefan couldn't see her, Caroline nodded. As she started with the messages.

"Tension," she mumbled to herself.

 _ **C – I can't stop thinking about you tonight, and what it would feel like to have your lips drag over mine.**_

 _ **S – Is that so?**_

 _ **C – I wish you could see what I'm wearing under my dress. It's black and lacy and I think you'd enjoy it.**_

 _ **C – Or at least enjoy taking it off.**_

Klaus froze. He had been stealthily sneaking up behind Caroline subtly gaging what she was up to. It appeared she was just texting someone, but as Klaus looked closer, he realised that was no text.

It was a sext.

Oblivious to the fact she now had an audience, Caroline continued.

 _ **S – Oh I'm sure I would.**_

 _ **C – If you showed up at the door right now, I would rip your pants off and drop to my knees in front of you.**_

 _ **C – Would you like that? Seeing me on my knees for you?**_

Klaus gulped.

Judging by the sudden tightness of his pants, he did would like to see that.

 _ **C –Do you want to see my clothes littering your bedroom floor?**_

Klaus' mouth was watering at the visual imagery of Caroline's bright red Christmas dress adorning the carpet in his bedroom.

 _ **C – Stefan, I'm not going to send you a picture, okay? I'm not your type anyway.**_

Klaus felt slightly disappointed.

 _ **S – Didn't expect you to. Next step, you're doing well.**_

Klaus really didn't understand what was going on. Why was the guy saying 'next step'?

But Klaus' quizzical train of thought was interrupted as his mind turned to mush reading the next text Caroline sent.

 _ **C – I want you inside of me.**_ _**I want you to fuck your cock into me while I scream your name.**_

Klaus almost fell over.

He _reaallllllly_ wanted to act that out.

Hell, after the last couple of days, he _needed_ to act it out.

 _ **C – I want to spread my legs and gush around your cock while you fill me.**_

Klaus was watching on desperately, imagining all the things she was so brazenly texting about.

 _ **C – Okay, Stef, I'm out. Might have to go keep myself company if you know what I mean ;)**_

Klaus knew he _had_ to move or she'd catch him gawping, but his mind was so full of pictures of her undulating beneath him while she screamed his name. It was rendering him completely motionless.

 _ **S – I get you, Care. You're doing really well! You nearly turned me on! And you're female!**_

 _ **C – Thanks Stef! I'll talk to you later. We can have a cooking class when I get back to Whitmore.**_

If Caroline were being honest she'd kind of turned herself on while texting Stefan. But she refused to let herself believe it was because she was imagining doing those things with Klaus.

That wasn't the reason.

Not at all.

It had just been a long time since Caroline had talked dirty with anyone – or got any at all for that matter. That was it.

It was _nothing_ to do with the lustful images of kneeling in front of Klaus, sucking him off, then allowing him to bury himself in her tight, wet heat – which was now throbbing at the pictures her mind was painting.

Caroline shifted slightly, feeling the slight dampness between her legs, and rolling her eyes at her lack of forethought – she should have brought her special bunny.

As Caroline finally began to move, Klaus' motor functions returned, and he gulped as she gasped loudly, seemingly startled by him.

"Jesus, how long have you been standing there?" Caroline asked, snappishly.

He tried. He really did. But the words just wouldn't form in his mouth.

Never in his life had Klaus been rendered speechless, but staring at the beautiful goddess in front of him, the thought of her on her knees nor him and 'keeping herself company' had completely done a number on his faculties.

"Klaus?"

He was suddenly snapped out of his trance and attempted to regain his cocky composure. Though all she'd have to do was glance at his nether regions to see his composure was completely gone.

"Not long, love," he said, a little too confidently, as he sat down next to her on the couch.

"Right," Caroline said, warily.

He sat closer to her than strictly necessary, and Caroline caught again the scent of him – all rough and woodsy and beautifully male, just as she had when they were arguing on the street.

And it did _nothing_ for the lust swirling around Caroline's brain.

"Did you have a nice Christmas?" Caroline asked, trying to find a safe conversation topic to stop the lewd tracks her mind was going towards.

"I did," Klaus replied.

He was staring at her again, with that intense gaze of his, though this time it was less challenging and more admiring.

Though she _had_ to be seeing things.

He wouldn't admire her.

They'd spent the entire two days previous griping at each other.

"That's good."

Caroline stole another glance at him, and chewed her lip absentmindedly.

She could do it. She could just lean in the six or so inches and enclose his lips with hers, and then see where the night took them.

He was flying back to England the next week; they could just have some no-strings-attached sex for now.

Surely.

And, by the way he was looking at her, he wouldn't be opposed to the idea.

"Is there anything that would make it better?" Caroline asked, with just the barest hint of seduction laced through her voice.

For a split second, Klaus was stunned. Was she flirting with him?

He'd be lying if he said he hadn't thought about her sexually more than once since their stand off in the lecture all those weeks ago.

He recovered quickly however, and raised a tentative hand to push her beautiful locks off her even more beautiful face.

Caroline almost hated that she leaned into his touch. But, as clichéd as it was, it felt so _right._

As his fingers grazed over her cheek, Caroline felt a shudder run through her body from the top of her head and the tips of her toes, straight to her already aware core.

"I can think of one thing," Klaus breathed back.

"Tell me the truth, Klaus," Caroline whispered. "Were you reading my texts over my shoulder?"

Klaus paled. Caught out.

"Yes, love," he said, ashamed.

A small, sultry smile graced Caroline's face then.

"Then you know exactly what I plan on doing to you."

Before Klaus could so much as blink, Caroline had leaned in and placed her plump lips on his, instigating the most amazing kiss of Klaus' life.

It was not the violent, desperate kiss he'd been expecting, rather a sensual, slow deep kiss. But for some reason, it drove Klaus crazier and harder than any other kiss he'd ever experienced.

Klaus raised his other hand to cup Caroline's face, simultaneously pulling her closer to him and taking control over the kiss.

He traced his tongue slowly over the seam of her mouth, sliding it in to explore her every crevice when her lips parted.

Caroline moaned gently at the invasion, and weaved her fingers through his hair.

For all her previous desperation, she was enjoying the slow languor of this kiss, though she could certainly see it turning more heated in the future.

She gently pushed him back so she was lying on top of him on the couch. At this, Klaus removed his hands from her face and traced them down her body, before kneading the toned flesh of her bumarse with his hands.

Never in his life had he been so content just _kissing_ someone. The way she fit so perfectly with him. The way her body melded against his. The way her skin felt under his touch.

Klaus just _knew_ if he took it further, she would ruin him for any other woman, but he couldn't help it. To deny himself the divinity that was Caroline Forbes, would be something akin to denying himself fresh water after days of thirst.

Just as he thought this, however, she began to pull away, and Klaus immediately felt the loss.

He gazed up at her as she straddled him. Her hair was slightly mussed and cheeks and lips more pink than usual, but _oh_ she looked more beautiful than Klaus ever though could be legal.

"If we're going to do this," Caroline murmured, her voice dripping with seduction, a light dancing in her eyes. "Then we're going to do it properly."

"Love, I could do you properly right here," Klaus replied, with an equal passion in his voice, placing small kisses along her neck between each word. "And no man would ever be able to live up to it."

Caroline sighed at the contact but climbed off him before giving him one last kiss.

"Come to my room in ten minutes time, and I'll make it worth your while."

And with that, Caroline was strutting off sexily to her room.

Ten minutes had _never_ felt so long for Klaus.

xxx

Caroline had _never_ experienced a quicker ten minutes in her life.

If she was honest, she wasn't wearing very sexy underwear – rainbows and unicorns weren't a big turn on she'd been told. So that was the first thing she changed. Opting instead for her Victoria's Secret black lacy set – the one she'd pretended to be wearing when talking to Stefan.

She threw her dress quickly back on, knowing some guys enjoyed watching a girl strip.

Next she quickly brushed her teeth. She'd had _a lot_ of garlic that day, and was not going to jeopardise sex with the sexiest man on the planet because of bad breath.

She was going to do him like no one ever had. She was going to ruin him for all other woman. Because after their kiss, she was pretty sure he'd ruined her for _ever_ being with another man – she may as well repay the favour.

Though, the main reason she wanted him to come to her room after a few minutes, was so she could re-enact the scenario she'd messaged Stefan.

Oral sex, while on her knees in front of him, before having him take her to six ways to Sunday wasn't really appropriate lounge room practice. Especially when it wasn't your house. Especially, _especially_ when the house was full of your sexual partners' immediate family.

After her preparation time was up, she heard a soft knock at the door, and Caroline smirked.

Game on.

She opened the door and immediately attacked Klaus' lips fervently.

Klaus walked them backwards into the room, closing the door behind them, before flipping them, and pinning Caroline to the door, both still locked in their passionate embrace.

After another few minutes of raging kisses, and Caroline flipped them back around, so Klaus had his back to the door.

Caroline's hands pulled Klaus' shirt off, flinging it behind her, and began fumbling with the buttons of Klaus' jeans, before roughly tugging them down.

Klaus was so turned on by her initiative that he held his breath as she trailed kisses down his body.

"Do you want me on my knees for you, Klaus?" Caroline asked breathlessly.

"I really do, love."

Klaus had never been a fan of the blowjob before, not enough he could control for his comfort-zone, but the thought of Caroline's beautiful mouth wrapped around him nearly made his knees buckle.

He let his head fall back against the door as Caroline began to place hot, open-mouthed kisses on the inside of his thighs, gradually getting closer and closer to where Klaus needed her to be.

As she reached her final destination, she flicked her wet tongue over the tip of his length, revelling in the way he groaned loudly with pleasure.

She let her tongue run over his length a couple more times before completely encasing him with her mouth.

Klaus had never felt so much bliss during proper sex let alone during oral sex.

Caroline's head bobbed up and down, massaging his balls with one hand, and following the path of her mouth with the other.

She sucked harder and harder until he was groaning her name.

God, she'd missed this. She'd completely forgotten just how satisfying it was to pleasure another person so much they could only articulate your name.

Klaus could feel his release begin to build, and tugged at her hair, pulling her mouth off, a faint pop resounding in the room.

"I don't want to come in your mouth, love," Klaus managed to grit out.

"But I want you to," Caroline replied, looking up at him through thick lashes. "Please let me do this."

Klaus wasn't going to argue with a girl who said 'please', so he let her continue her ministrations.

This time, Caroline took him in even further, so the tip of his cock grazed the back of her throat.

She was humming slightly, and the vibrations sent rockets of pleasure through Klaus. Caroline sucked harder, until Klaus lost all self-control and began thrusting his hips into her mouth.

Caroline knew Klaus was close, and she looked up at him again, their eyes locking.

The combination of her hands working, along with her mouth, and the sudden eye contact finally did Klaus in. He felt himself tighten and spill into Caroline's mouth, which she swallowed gladly.

She released his length and she placed a soft kiss on the inside of each of his thighs before working her way back up to his lips.

Klaus _adored_ how turned on she was from bringing him pleasure, though there was one thing wrong with this picture.

"You are far too overdressed, sweetheart," Klaus murmured sensually in her ear, as he pecked her mouth over and over again.

"Can you help with that?"

Klaus slowed his feverish kisses and reached his hands around her, tugging the zip of her dress down. His eyes remained locked with hers the entire time the silky fabric was slithering down her body.

It was an extremely intimate moment, and both Caroline and Klaus wondered for the first time whether they would be able to keep it as just sex between them.

Klaus pulled her in for another slow, tender kiss, before feasting his eyes on the array of Caroline's body.

"You truly are beautiful," Klaus muttered, almost absentmindedly.

Caroline felt happiness bloom in her stomach along with the lust. No one had ever called her beautiful before. Sexy and hot, yes. Beautiful, no.

Klaus unclipped her bra and let it fall away, before walking them back to the bed, where he immediately began kissing down her neck, along her collar bones, before reaching Caroline's hardened nipple, taking it in his mouth, massaging the slope of her other breast with his rough hands. Caroline moaned, wantonly and throwing her head back, letting the endorphins flood her body.

Klaus released her nipple and began trailingtrailed his lips down her body. He reached her abdomen and stopped, making circles with his tongue as he shimmied her panties down her legs.

He ran his finger over her slit and she moaned again.

He rubbed her clit in circles before lowering his mouth to her lower lips, his tongue taking the place his fingers had only just occupied.

Caroline's back arched involuntarily, desperate for more friction.

Klaus continued his ministrations for another minute, before sliding a finger inside her, and pumping at a leisurely pace. Her loud groans of satisfaction encouraged him to add a second finger, and that was nearly enough to send Caroline over the edge.

She buried her fingers in his hair and he continued to lap at her clit and thrust his fingers into her faster.

"Oh, Klaus," Caroline sighed, her voice so breathy it had Klaus painfully hard again.

He pumped and swirled harder, as Caroline's moans became more frantic. She could feel that delicious pleasure building up, and it only took two more thrusts, and one nip at her clit for it to be Caroline's turn to come in Klaus' mouth.

Klaus allowed Caroline to catch her breath again, slowly working his way back up to her mouth, kissing every bit of available skin as he went.

Klaus was hard once again, and Caroline could feel it pressing into her thigh as his lips met hers. She could taste herself on him, and it was such an erotic experience, it had her almost dripping again.

"That was good and all," Caroline breathed into his ear in between kisses. "But I want you inside me. Right now. And I'm not talking about your fingers."

Her demand sent Klaus' heart and mind racing.

"That can certainly be arranged, love," Klaus breathed back, before detaching himself from her to reach for a foil packet, conveniently placed on her bedside table.

"No need," Caroline said mischievously. "I'm on the pill."

"Right you are then," Klaus said, rolling back to her and crashing his lips to her once more.

Klaus guided his cock to her opening, and dragged the head of it along her folds, both moaning loudly at the feeling.

"Is this what you want inside you?" Klaus asked cheekily.

"Yes, please, Klaus."

Klaus smirked at the breathlessness of her voice, and continued to tease her for a moment, before thrusting into her, hard.

They both cried out at the sensation, Caroline instinctively wrapping her legs around his waist allowing him to fill her to his hilt.

Klaus pulled his hips back and thrust back in, the pace building quickly as they both got lost in the sheer ecstasy of being together.

Klaus watched Caroline writhe beneath him, her face twisted with a look of utmost pleasure, and it spurred Klaus' libido higher knowing it was _he_ who caused her such bliss.

They both felt their second climaxes of the night fast approaching, and they began to thrust faster and faster. Klaus reached his hand between them to rub at Caroline's sensitive nub as they pounded in sync.

The coil in Caroline's belly curled tighter and tighter, until with a final hard push of Klaus' hips, the coil snapped and Caroline toppled over the edge.

Klaus felt her walls clamp around him and it was such a beautiful feeling that he found his own release after only a few more thrusts.

They collapsed in a tangle of sweaty limbs, damp hair and skin slick with perspiration. They were silent for a few moments as they caught their breath.

Klaus was the first to move.

He rolled over so he was on his back, pulling Caroline down so she could rest her head on his chest and nuzzle into him while they recovered.

"What did we just do?" Caroline giggled once she'd regained enough brainpower to enunciate words properly.

"I'm not sure, love," Klaus chuckled back, placing a soft, tender kiss of her forehead. "But I would gladly have a repeat."

"And another one after that," Caroline grinned, pressing her lips to his.

"And then another couple, for good measure," Klaus added, smiling as the blonde beauty, who was now straddling him, continued peppering kisses all over his face and neck.

xxx

Boxing Day dawned bright and cold, just as the previous day. But Caroline wasn't cold like she had been the day before.

Klaus' arms were wrapped tightly around her, as she slowly woke from her slumber.

They had at least three more rounds the night before, with little power naps in the middle to regain strength.

She smiled softly at the man in her arms. She wasn't sure what the future held for them, but Caroline was _sure_ she was going to make the most of him while he was there.

She wriggled to get free of his grasp a little, before beginning to place hot kisses along his jawline.

"Wake up, sleepy head," she crooned in his ear. She could tell he was awake, but he kept his eyes stubbornly shut – so shoot him for enjoying the pleasurable wake up call.

"I'm just dying for a little snack before breakfast."

Klaus could no longer hold in the smirk he was suppressing, and opened his eyes.

"Morning, love," he mumbled, his voice low, gravelly and adorable after the sleep.

Before Caroline could say another word, Klaus was attacking her mouth with more of his drugging kisses, and the beautiful feelings they'd experienced the previous night began flooding back, as blood began flooding to their most intimate places.

"I could get used to waking up like this," Klaus said in between kisses.

"Me too."

Klaus paused momentarily. Never before had he _wanted_ to wake up with someone sleeping beside him. But he could see himself wanting this with Caroline.

"We'll see if that can be arranged, sweetheart," Klaus said meaningfully, before pressing a deep kiss on her lips.

xxx

Kol bounded down stairs, hoping to find his best friend and brother in the awkward, post hook-up breakfast conversation.

But they weren't there.

Everyone else was. But they weren't.

Kol knew Caroline _very_ well, and if she wasn't up before eight o'clock then something was _seriously_ wrong.

And it was now nine thirty.

Kol's brow creased, as worry flooded through his body. Maybe she was unwell. Maybe Klaus hadn't taken the bait, and they just killed each other instead.

Kol jumped up the stairs he'd only recently bounded down, and barged into Caroline's room without knocking.

What he found was a sight that would be burned into his brain forever more – and he would bring it up in his maid of honour speech at Caroline and Klaus' wedding… but that was another story.

There was a fully naked Caroline riding a completely bare Klaus, her head thrown back a look of utter heaven gracing her face as Klaus palmed her breasts, before –

"KOL!" She screeched, practically falling off Klaus' hips – which was awkward seeing as they were connected there – and scrambling to cover herself. "GET OUT!"

Kol didn't know whether to cover his eyes and vomit, or cover his eyes and laugh.

"Wait," Kol said, watching as a beet red Caroline huddled closely to a furious looking Klaus. "Did you to do the nasty before Christmas Day ended."

"What the hell, Kol!?" Caroline shrieked. "Why would you ask that!? Get lost!"

"I'll leave if you tell me," he smirked.

"YES!" Caroline and Klaus both shouted in unison.

Kol's smirk became a fully-fledged, shit-eating grin and he sped out the door – being an ass and leaving it open.

"I WON THE POOL!" Kol called excitedly running back down the stairs to claim his prize.

"I WON THE POOL!"

* * *

 **Alrightttt, this was the drabble I wrote for thetourguidebarbie for the Klaroline Vacay gift exchange, I had a ton of fun writing it, even if it did turn out to be like 9 times longer than a drabble _should_ be lol. **

**Thanks to my two betas - my starfish and** **khaleesistormdancerqueen. Their work was invaluable - even though I think there may still be one or two little mistakes in there...**

 **ANYWAY - have a lovely night everyone. :::::))))**


	6. Routines

Klaus was _sure_ he'd never met anyone who drank as much coffee as his girlfriend.

She'd been addicted long before she knew him.

The first time they'd met, all those years ago in her second year of college, was thanks to coffee.

In true movie cliché form, he'd bumped into her and she'd spilt her triple shot latte all down his front.

He'd growled menacingly at her for ruining his favourite shirt, expecting her to cower and apologise, before scurrying off.

She'd blanched, however, and given him a harsh talking to for having the gall to growl at _her_ for something that was _his_ fault, completely shattering his expectations.

And, all these years later, despite both of them having their much-loved routines, she was still rocking his world daily.

 _And_ she was still drinking upwards of seven cups of coffee a day.

Klaus wasn't sure if her coffee dependency was healthy, but he knew better than to try and change that part of her.

The one time he tried weaning her off caffeine, he switched her beans from caff to decaf without telling her.

It had not been a smart move.

There had been yelling, and throwing around of coffee grounds at him – they still found stray grounds when cleaning – and she had stormed out.

Klaus hadn't seen or heard from her for a week after that, she having decided he was not worthy of her company, opting instead to stay with her best friend instead – who was evidently his sister, who had also given him a stern talking to about trying to change Caroline.

Klaus still shuddered even thinking about it.

Though, that morning, for some unknown reason, Klaus must have forgotten the fallout of meddling with her coffee, because that's exactly what he planned on doing.

In his defence, he and Caroline _had_ been locked in an intense prank war this past month.

Which had started with _her_ , and _her_ meddling with his paints – which was Klaus' equivalent of Caroline's coffee – you _didn't_ mess with his paints.

You just didn't.

So, Klaus was proud it had taken four weeks – and seven pranks each – for him to resort to tampering with the coffee, when she'd resorted to paint-play twice.

Anyway, when his alarm went off at 6 that morning, like it did every morning, he kissed her sleeping forehead – as usual – and made his way to the kitchen to put the kettle on, and begin cooking breakfast, just as their routine dictated.

Perfect.

She would suspect _nothing_.

And, just like she did every morning, Caroline clambered clumsily out of bed and stagger to the shower.

Klaus smirked.

It was go time.

While he heard the water begin to run in the bathroom, he quickly grabbed the sugar bowl and went to the walk in pantry, substituting the sweet white goodness of white sugar, with the tart almost bitter – but still good – goodness of table salt.

He had to choke back a laugh as he placed the little ceramic bowl back in its place.

He had just sat back at the table with his cup of tea, and morning newspaper – similar to every morning – as she stumbled into the kitchen in just her little pink fluffy towel, as per, and made a beeline for the coffee pot, fumbling with the task of making her morning drink.

Despite the fact she _always_ showered before her coffee, the water did nothing to rouse her.

Nothing helped.

Except the caffeine.

She stood in her sleep-induced haze, impatiently waiting for the liquid heaven to pass her lips, so she could start her day properly.

When the brown elixir of life was _finally_ ready, Caroline perked up at the mere smell.

It was show time.

She reached for the 'sugar' and then –

One.

Klaus bit his lip, determined to conceal his glee.

Two.

He took a large mouthful of his own beverage to cover the fact he was about to burst out laughing.

Three.

He bit down hard on his tongue, willing the giggles to dissipate or have his prank ruined.

Three and a half.

She must be particularly sleepy this morning, needing that extra 'sugary' jolt.

She was going to get a jolt alright.

After she'd dumped the equivalent of a small spade of 'sugar' into her cup, she began to raise it to her lips.

He hid behind the paper to cover his dimpled smile, and the uncontrollable laughter about to engulf him.

Once he'd regained his control Klaus lowered the paper, only to find a completely unimpressed Caroline coldly death glaring at him.

It was a look that made Klaus quiver, in fear for his safety.

And the safety of everyone he knew and loved for that matter.

Never once diverting her icy eyes leave his, she raised the cup to her lips once again, and gulped down the liquid in one, until there was not a single salty drop left.

Klaus was awed.

Not once did she flinch, wince or shudder.

"You know," Caroline said in a deadly voice. "For someone who is as intelligent as you, you sure as hell don't learn your lesson."

"How did you manage to drink that…?"

"Oh please, Klaus," she spat. "You say _you're_ the alpha male, but we both know that's crap…"

She placed the cup gently on the counter, and began stalking threateningly towards him.

Her face was expressionless, but her eyes held a look of pure rage.

Klaus tried not to be turned on as she moved closer to him, but she was _so_ sexy in that towel of hers.

And damn that damp hair flopping around her perfect face.

As she continued to seductively strut towards him, Klaus felt himself fill with more and more desire.

God, she was glorious.

As she reached him, she let her towel fall away, and she straddled him so there was only the thin fabric of his boxers separating them.

She fisted her fingers in his soft curls and Klaus nearly lost it right there.

He knew he was in the doghouse, but pulled her closer to him nonetheless, letting his hands grip her smooth arse tightly.

She leant in, her hot breath fanning over his neck, but before Klaus could bring her in and place a searing kiss on her mouth, she spoke dangerously into his ear.

"If you pull a stunt like that again," she murmured, so unbelievably close her lips were brushing his ear. "You will never again feel the bliss of coming inside me."

And with that, Caroline picked herself up off his lap, and returned to her morning routine, as though nothing out of the ordinary had transpired.

Klaus, on the other hand, knew he was going to have a _hard_ time concentrating until he'd made it up to Caroline for messing with her coffee.

"Oh and by the way, _I_ am the alpha, Klaus, I don't even know what weakness is. And don't you forget it."

* * *

 **This was the first ever prompt I got from someone, and I felt all tingly when I got it. 3 (the prompt was from thisisfuckingnotcool on tumblr - go follllow!)**

 **Thanks like a thousand million to all the people who actually take the time to read my stories, it makes me happy.**

 **I will take prompts from peeps, if you want to send them my way. :)**


	7. How Was Your Flight?

Klaus rested his head on the cool window of the car taxiing him from JFK to his home in Manhattan.

The flight between London and New York was not an enjoyable one, and he was hankering to curl up in his bed in attempts to get at least five hours sleep before he had to be at the office.

Klaus sighed as the cab crawled through the maze of New York streets. When he'd stepped off the plane, Klaus had switched on his phone and hoping for at least one message asking how his flight was.

But no. He'd received two from his boss's secretary, which detailed the itinerary of the next morning's board meeting, four from different colleagues asking him for different favours when he returned to work the next day, and he'd received at least 17 business related emails.

But not one of them asked about his flight.

Klaus loved his job, he really did. There was nothing like the thrill of working the stock market, or handling settlements – knowing _you're_ the god in control of so many millions of dollars.

But it was a lonely life.

Long hours at the office, business trips all over the world, the stress of the job; none of these factors made it easy to have good friends or girlfriends, because you stood them up too much for them to hang around.

Despite this, he had fervently hoped she would send him a message.

Just because he job didn't lend to having relationships, didn't mean he didn't try. Especially not after he met her.

Caroline Forbes swanned into his life only three and a bit months earlier. She was light and optimistic, but was keenly intelligent and had a wicked sense of humour.

Klaus had hit on her at a bar, fully intending to use his scruffy face, dimples and accent to bed her for one night, and then never call her for seconds, because he didn't have time for girlfriends, and he just knew by looking at her she was a girlfriend kind of girl.

But she had rocked his world with her sharp tongue, adorably clumsy nature and Klaus found himself fall into the trap he'd promised he'd never fall into.

The trap of love.

Yes, it had only been three and a bit months, but Klaus was pretty sure he was falling head over heels for Caroline. He wanted to wake up every morning to her perfect face. He wanted to be the only man she even _thought_ about kissing. He wanted to spoil her rotten with gifts, and breakfasts in bed, and trips to Martha's Vineyard. He wanted to call in sick to work and play hooky, just the two of them.

He wanted her to message him asking how his flight was.

But no.

She hadn't messaged him.

He knew she wouldn't.

They'd only been out on five dates, and had only had sex twice. She wasn't even his official girlfriend yet, and he could hardly say he was attentive to her, only texting her a few times while he was away.

Despite their short time together and his own neglect of her, he was pretty sure he loved her.

She lit a fire in his heart, and could fix a whole day with just one of her smiles. Her laughter made him weak at the knees, and her eyes made him get lost. She consumed his waking hours, and haunted his dreams. She was everything he wasn't, and she filled the gaping hole in his chest left by years of self-loathing and loneliness.

As the taxi pulled up outside his building, Klaus retrieved his luggage, paid the driver, and began to make his forlorn ascent to the top most floor.

It was nice living in the penthouse, but it was soured by the fact he lived in it alone.

The elevator dinged as he reached his floor and Klaus stepped out and fumbled with his key, unlocking his front door.

As he stepped over the threshold, he sighed.

Home again.

Alone again.

He left his luggage by the front door, opting to tackle the task of unpacking when he got a spare minute over the coming days.

Right now, he just wanted a shower then bed.

He walked by the living area on the way to the bathroom but halted when he saw something _very_ out of place on his couch.

Klaus felt his body rush with affection, as he saw, curled up among the comforter and pillows from his bed, a familiar mass of blonde curls. Her eyes were shut, her breathing slow and heavy, and Klaus kneeled down next to her, his heart so full he thought it might burst.

He brushed the curls away from her face and observed her while she snoozed. She was so painfully beautifully Klaus could have cried, and she was so ridiculously adorable Klaus wanted to laugh.

"Sweetheart," he murmured, shaking her shoulders lightly. "Sweetheart."

He heard a sharp intake of breath, as Caroline returned to the land of the living. She looked around frantically for a few moments, disorientated by her surroundings.

When she finally managed to regain her bearings, her face split into a small, sleepy smile and she leaned in, wordlessly pressing her lips to his.

Klaus sighed into the kiss, his heart soaring.

"Hello, love," Klaus said warmly, burying his hands in the hair at the nape of her neck.

"How was your flight?" She asked, huskily.

He smiled, this was better than any message.

"Long," he replied, before adding playfully, "What, pray tell, are you doing on my couch?"

Caroline pulled him towards her, until he got the message and gingerly lifted himself so he was on the couch next to her. She immediately wrapped her arms around his middle and nuzzled into him.

"I missed you," she croaked, her voice hoarse from sleep. "But I didn't know when you would be home. So, I waited for you."

"I missed you, too," he said placing a soft kiss on the top of her head, his heart still soaring high above the clouds. No one had ever waited for _him_. "But the couch? You have the comforter and pillows from my bed why not sleep there? I assure you it's much more comfortable."

"I tried," she whispered, her head still tucked under his chin. "But your bed isn't the same without you. At least with your pillow on the couch I could fall asleep smelling you."

Klaus was at a loss for words. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. She was saying all the things she said in his daydreams, and he had to wonder whether this was a hallucination brought on by lack of sleep.

But as she snuggled further into his embrace, Klaus knew it was real; his daydreams were never felt this blissful.

Neither of them said anything for a few moments, and Klaus almost felt himself begin to drift off, when Caroline moved.

She twisted her head around, and looked at him. Her eyes were still bleary from sleep, but Klaus could see the truth in them. She brought a hand up to stroke along the side of his face, and he revelled in the touch.

"I'm sorry I didn't call first," she said. "I knew where your spare key was, and you didn't answer my last text, so I improvised."

Klaus kicked himself as he remembered that he, indeed, hadn't answered her text. He kept putting it off so he could pay his full attention to it. An hour turned into a day, and a day turned into the rest of the trip.

"Don't apologise, sweetheart," he said, guiltily. "I'm the one who should. I'm terrible at responding, my work is hectic about 95% of the time."

"It's okay," she said.

"No, it's not," he replied. "I should put in more effort, because you're… you're amazing."

She smiled and kissed him again, this time a little deeper, before detaching her lips to rest her forehead against him.

"Klaus," she began.

His heart plummeted. Her voice was so meaningful that Klaus just _knew_ something bad was coming. Whenever anyone had a voice with that amount of emotion in it, he always ended up alone again.

"Caroline," he replied, sadly.

"I know we've only been out on like five dates," she said. Her voice was still full of that emotion, and Klaus just wanted her to rip the Band-Aid off quickly. "And I know we've only had sex, like, twice. But…"

She paused, and took a deep breath, and Klaus could almost hear the rejection falling out of her perfect mouth.

"But… I'm pretty sure I'm in love with you, and I just wanted you to know that."

While his heart may have soared, then plummeted, now it was stopped.

"You love me?" he croaked, the lump that had risen in his throat rendering him almost speechless. " _You_ love _me_?"

Caroline smiled that soft smile of hers, and Klaus brought his hands up to cup her face, stroking his thumbs along her cheeks tenderly.

"I know, it's crazy, ri…"

But, her words were cut off as his lips crashed into hers and he kissed her deeply, his heart now singing with joy.

He pulled away after a few moments to gaze into her eyes once more. Klaus could see all the possibilities swimming within them. He could see all his fantasies about her reflected back at him. He could see she wanted and needed – and _loved_ – him the way he did her.

"I love you, too, Caroline Forbes," he breathed, wanting to wrap this moment in bubble wrap so he could preserve it forever.

She smiled at him earnestly, a small, happy tear running down her face.

Her eyes were beginning to flutter shut, as her need to sleep overwhelmed her once more.

"I'm just going to have a shower, my love," he breathed into her ear. "Then we can go up to bed."

Her eyes still closed, she nodded sleepily, but grabbed his hand, pulling him down to whisper, "Play hooky with me tomorrow. We can spend the day together."

Klaus smiled broadly. The office could cope without him for _one_ day.

"It would be my honour."

* * *

 **Heyy peeps!**

 **This was from day five of Klaroline AU Week. Which is sadly over now.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**


	8. Something About Caroline

Klaus was annoyed at his brother.

Elijah had positively insistedhe come over so they could 'talk'.

And when Klaus said 'insisted', he meant it. He'd received five voice mails requesting Klaus come to stay with him overnight. That was _a lot_ for Mr technology-isn't-my-friend-and-never-will-be Elijah.

But since Klaus had turned up, Elijah had spent the majority of time glued to his phone. Which was also unusual for Elijah, for he normally detested anyone using their devices in the presence of others – and just detested texting in general.

"Why did you ask me here, brother, if you're just going to ignore me?" Klaus gritted out.

"Because…" his brother started, but his phone buzzed again, and, with a sharp intake of breath, a twitch of an eye, and a slight lick of the lips, Klaus noticed Elijah's famous composure crack. Even if it was only for a second.

Klaus was a little bit interested now; he'd never seen his brother so much as phased by _anything_ , let alone be ruffled due to a text message.

"What are you looking at?" Klaus asked cheekily, snatching at his brother's phone.

"Niklaus, don't!"

But it was too late.

 _ **C – I can't stop thinking about you, and your soft lips dragging over my body.**_

Now Klaus was _really_ interested.

 _ **C – If only you could see what I'm wearing right now.**_

The next text was quickly followed by a picture of a black lacy G-string lying on a bed.

 _ **C – Or at least, what I'm not wearing.**_

Klaus gulped.

In his distraction, Elijah snatched the phone away.

"Who were they from?" Klaus asked.

Elijah's neck reddened. "Um… Caroline."

"Caroline?" Klaus cried.

Caroline?

As in _Caroline_ Caroline?

As in the stereotypical southern-belle-girl-next-door-has-no-personality-Caroline?

As in Elijah's-woefully-boring-couldn't-find-personality-in-a-dictionary-best-friend Caroline?

There had always been _something_ about her. She was gorgeous, and not just gorgeous, she was _absolutely freaking goddess material_ type gorgeous _._ But every time Klaus had spoken to her she'd been boring as all hell, and with the boringness the _something_ seemed to disappear.

"Caroline is much more worldly than you give her credit for, Niklaus," Elijah stated matter of factly.

Elijah's phone buzzed again and he sighed, almost too scared to read it.

 _ **C – The rest of my body is covered by only one garment that would probably come off with one rough tug.**_

Elijah sighed, and dialled the number.

" _Hello?"_

"Caroline, you've made your point," Elijah said, exasperatedly.

Klaus heard a distinct chuckle come down the other end of the phone.

" _Well, you needed showing, Elijah. Gia's an experienced sort of girl, you've got to keep her interested, even if she's all the way in Chicago and you're still here."_

"Goodbye, Caroline," he intoned, amused, before hanging up.

"What was that about?" Klaus inquired of his brother.

"I have been seeing a new woman. She and I are not exclusive, but are headed that way," Elijah sighed. "She's on a business trip for the next three weeks and Caroline suggested I make her feel… wanted… and possibly limit her exploration of other sexual partners by engaging in a bout of… 'sexting'."

Elijah whispered and air-quoted the last word, as though the sheer crassness of it would offend someone.

"I told her it would firstly be wildly inappropriate, but also would be ineffective. Though, I believe I may have been proven wrong."

Elijah shifted uncomfortably. He'd always known his best friend was a very beautiful woman, but blondes had never been his thing. The sight of that thong, however…

"I think it would be best if we were to turn in tonight," Elijah said, realising would most likely take Caroline's advice the next night, after a little more research into techniques. "Goodnight, Niklaus."

Klaus watched his brother go, and was slightly fuzzy in the head.

He also was very aware Elijah had left his phone on the coffee table.

xxx

Caroline was feeling restless.

She didn't want bang Elijah. Not at all.

 _Never._ Gross.

Okay, there was that time, just after they just met when she had a bit of a sex dream about him.

 _And_ there was the _one_ time where they'd both been _really_ drunk after bad breakups and may have taken their sexual desires out on each other. But they didn't speak about that firstly because when your boyfriend runs off with your best friend's girlfriend… you're pretty upset… But mainly because it wasn't memorable at all.

And it wasn't memorable because neither of them could remember much other than the _horrific_ hangover they'd experienced as a result of all the drinking.

And since then they had become very sensible, very grown up and _very_ platonic friends.

So why did sexting him make her feel so… needy?

 _Because you haven't had sex in five months,_ Caroline thought to herself, _all the time while listening to Elijah's hints about his sexcapades with Gia._

Caroline went to bed, despite the fact it was only just 9:30, maybe she could sleep it off…

It was ten minutes of willing away lustful thoughts and staring angrily at the ceiling later, her phone buzzed.

Text message.

From Elijah.

Odd.

He really did hate texting, even on a good day.

 _ **E – I would love to see the scrap of clothing on the ground.**_

Caroline stared at the text.

Was he playing along?

Should she?

She knew it was wrong, but she couldn't help it.

She sent a picture of her silky robe on the floor next to her panties.

 _ **E – I like the look of that.**_

Caroline teased her lower lip anxiously.

She knew she shouldn't, but it had been a really long time. And in the morning she could just say she was coaching him through it, giving him tips.

Plus, she wasn't even imagining Elijah when she was texting him. She was imagining his dreamy brother, Klaus.

Klaus had popped up in a number of her fantasies lately, strangely enough. They'd never shared anything more than four painfully awkward conversations, and three grating eye contacts since they met nearly five years ago.

He was hot, and she was needy. That's what she put it down to. Because you didn't need to know a hot guy for him to play the lead role in your steamy fantasies.

 _ **C – Do you now? Does it make you hard thinking about me sprawled naked on my bed, trailing my hands over my body?**_

 _ **C – Sorry about any typos, typing one-handed is tricky.**_

On the other end of the phone, Klaus groaned as he read the messages. He slid one of his hands to cup himself, rubbing gently to appease some of the tension in his body.

Klaus snapped a picture of the tent his pants had become.

 _ **E – Yes, love.**_

Caroline let out an open mouthed sigh when she saw the picture. He was so hard. He must have been to be _that_ visible through jeans.

Wait…

Elijah didn't wear jeans.

Nor did he call her love.

And suddenly it clicked. She was sexting Klaus.

As the realisation hit her, Caroline's mind reeled. She knew he didn't like her. She didn't blame him, he'd never seen her at her best.

But damn, the man was _hot._

A bolt of lust shot through her as she realised she could sext _Klaus_ as much as she wanted, without the moral dilemma of sexting her almost-taken best male friend.

 _ **C – Well aren't you a naughty brother, Klaus.**_

 _Dammit,_ Klaus thought, _she knows it's me._

He was just tapping out an apology when a second message came through.

 _ **C – Do you want to be inside me, Klaus?**_

Klaus let out an open-mouthed sigh, lust filling his brain. He so badly wanted that. Who would have thought Caroline Forbes, of all people, would be able to turn him on so much with words only.

 _ **E – I want to bury myself so far inside you, and thrust so hard into you that all you can say is my name.**_

Caroline panted a little as she let the image fill her mind, her index finger massaging her clit.

 _ **C – What else do you want, Klaus?**_

 _ **E – I want to scrape my teeth down your neck, and massage your breasts, making you writhe in pleasure.**_

 _ **E – I want to feel your walls clamping around my cock as you come.**_

Caroline's eyes nearly rolled back in her head. This had to happen.

She needed this to happen.

 _ **C – I like the sound of that.**_

 _ **E – Are you wet for me, Caroline?**_

 _ **C – I am so wet, Klaus.**_

She sent back, adding a picture of her hand trailing down her stomach.

Klaus actually groaned out loud at the sight, and rubbed himself harder.

 _ **E – That's good, love. Because I want you.**_

Caroline found herself at a slight crossroads.

To invite him over or not invited him over.

 _ **C – What are you going to do about it?**_

 _ **E – I don't understand.**_

She chewed her lip. Should she bang her best friend's brother? Probably not…

Was that going to stop her? Definitely not.

 _ **C – Well, I want you inside of me. I want you to fuck me good with your fingers, then again with your tongue. Then I want you to fuck me to oblivion with your cock. I want this. And I want this now.**_

Klaus couldn't believe his eyes at the dirty language from _Caroline Forbes_ , of all people, and he never believed it would be so damn hot.

 _ **E – Whatever the lady wishes. Where do you live?**_

 _ **C – Address is in Elijah's phone. Just get here fast, or I'll finish the job myself.**_

Klaus sighed again at the image of Caroline pleasure herself to pictures and thoughts of him.

Fifteen minutes later, there was a rapping at Caroline's door, and Caroline got up excitedly from her bed and answered, wrapping her tiny silk robe around her, so it just covered her middle, but left a dangerous amount of skin exposed.

When she opened the door, a strong pair of hands gripped her, and a mouth crushed to hers in a frantic, passionate, lust-filled kiss.

"Well, aren't we desperate?" Caroline quipped, as she broke apart.

"I wasn't the one who wants to be fucked three ways to Sunday, love," Klaus said cheekily, as her kissed her deeply again.

"I only described three ways, Klaus," Caroline panted out. "But if you give me any less than five, and four different positions, I'm going to be very disappointed."

"Wouldn't want to disappoint, love," Klaus said as he grinned wickedly, his hands finding her arse, which was hardly covered by the tiny bit of silky material.

Caroline's legs immediately wrapped around his hips and ground her wet core into his erection.

"Let's get started then," she panted.

xxx

It was about 4:30 in the morning when Elijah woke abruptly. He'd been having a very graphic dream about Gia, and he needed some fresh air to… calm down. So he climbed out of his bed to get himself a glass of water from the kitchen.

As he was passing the dining table, he saw his phone light up. He looked on to see he had just received a message from Gia.

 _ **G – Alone in my bed. Thinking of you. xx**_

Elijah smiled wryly, cursing Caroline for being right. As usual.

 _ **E – That's fortunate. I may have just been interrupted in a very pleasurable dream of you.**_

Resigning himself to the fact he was going to do this, he looked back at what Caroline had sent him, to give some indication of what to expect.

When he opened their messages however, there were a decent number more than when he'd gone to bed, all quite graphic.

Elijah read through them, a furrow creasing his handsome brow and clicked to what Klaus had done.

He shuddered.

His best friend and his brother.

He knew _exactly_ what the two of them would be up to right now.

xxx

After round four a few hours later, Caroline and Klaus collapsed on the bed, breathing heavily.

"Did you delete those messages from Elijah's phone, Klaus?" Caroline asked, distractedly, chest still heaving from the pleasurable over exertion of their recent activities.

The colour drained from Klaus' face, and Caroline had her answer. He'd been in such a rush to get to Caroline he hadn't even thought about covering his tracks.

"Ahh well," she sighed. "At least he has some point of reference now, I guess. And it was totally worth it."

She smirked at Klaus, who smirked back, and kissed her for what felt like the 100th time that night, revelling in the feeling of his lips against hers.

There really was _something_ about Caroline Forbes.

* * *

 **Hello peeps!**

 **This is another one from Klaroline AU Week. I am 10000% trash for sexting. I very much enjoy it. So if anyone wants to write more KC sexting drabbles I would be extremely down for reading them :D (Doesn't even have to be Klaroline - Carenzo, Carlijah, Katholine, Rebekoline - I just enjoy sexting :3 - is that a bad thing?) ANYWAY! That aside, I hope you enjoyed, and hit me up on tumblr or whatever, if you wanttt :D**

 **Bye for now not forever.**


	9. Ploughman's Lunch

It was a beautiful warm spring day, but Caroline couldn't help but feel gloomy and distracted. Two things it wasn't handy to be when you were a third grade teacher.

For the past few months – whole year if she was honest – she'd hardly seen her husband.

He would work late, eat at the office, then would storm into their house, grumpy and tired at close to ten o'clock, sometimes even as late as midnight.

He would shower quickly, barely spare her a glance and collapse exhausted into bed, only to be up and gone before the dawn the next morning.

He was pushing her away, and she didn't know how to handle it.

Initially, Caroline had ignored it. She had plenty on her mind without worrying about why Klaus was acting distant.

Then, she had been irritated with his behaviour. Was it so hard to say 'Hello, sweetheart, how was your day?' or acknowledge that she'd made him dinner – even if he'd already eaten? Or even say 'I love you' before he left in the morning.

Then, she'd gotten paranoid. What if he was keeping these hours because he was cheating on her? His secretary _was_ extremely pretty, and was almost a clone of her. Maybe they were shacking up in his office, and Klaus was distant with her because he wanted a divorce.

But over the last couple of months, Caroline had turned to gloomy and distracted, desperate for ways to reconnect with her husband; because, no matter what the two of them had been through the last year, she loved him above all, even if things were a little dry and unpleasant at the moment.

She couldn't blame him for doing his job. He was only 32 and was being groomed to take over as CEO when the current CEO stepped down over the coming year. She couldn't – _wouldn't_ – become one of those wives who resented their husbands for working hard.

So, that afternoon, Caroline decided it was high time to do something. Klaus needed a break from working, and she needed to show him she was still there for him, even if he was preoccupied with work.

"Bonnie," Caroline said, sidling up to her friend in the staff room just after school finished.

"Hey, Care. How was your day?"

"It was good. But I need a favour?"

"Anything."

"Would you be able to cover for me in the staff meeting? Can you take notes for me, and tell Josette I wasn't feeling well and had to go home?"

"Yeah, sure," Bonnie answered, concerned. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," Caroline said. "Just something I've been neglecting."

Bonnie smiled at her friend, and the two women hugged, before Caroline hurriedly took her leave.

xxx

A few hours later, Caroline was completely set, it was just past seven when she hoisted the big basket into her car, and drove to Klaus' office building.

Caroline had visited the office often when she first started dating Klaus, all those years ago.

She'd only been a sophomore in college, and yet he was already working at the firm. Caroline was never really sure how they ended up together but she was glad she had. They'd married when she was just 21, and he was 26, but she never felt as though she missed out on anything having married so young. She had the love of her life at her side, so she didn't mind.

But, over the years, as both their lives became more and more hectic, Caroline had stopped visiting the office so much. She just never saw the point when he was going to come home to her in the evening.

As Caroline drove, she realised maybe it wasn't just Klaus who wasn't putting so much into their marriage anymore.

She rarely surprised him with little treats to spoil him with, or bought naughty lingerie to seduce him with. She didn't ask how work was more than a 'Hi sweetie, how was work?' – a question both of them knew was only asked out of obligation. She didn't ask how he was coping with everything or whether he was truly okay.

They would speak, but they wouldn't talk, and she certainly wouldn't listen, even if he did try.

Instead she would go out with her friends, or skip his work functions because she was tired, or stay at the school preparing for the next day, rather than taking her work home like she did previously.

Waves of guilt crashed over her as she realised that she was just as much – if not more – to blame as he was in the deterioration of their relationship, and it upset her to think she was hurting him just as much as he was hurting her.

As she pulled into the office's parking garage, she noticed there were only a handful of cars, other than Klaus', still remaining parked there.

Caroline clambered out, gathered her supplies in her arms, and made her way to the reception to be signed in.

"Hello, Mrs Mikaelson," the lady at the front desk greeted. "We weren't expecting you, were we?"

"No," Caroline replied. "I just wanted to bring some dinner to my husband."

"That's understandable, he works a lot. But, unfortunately, he's in a conference with the CEO and the heads of the international divisions."

"I expected as much. I'll just wait in his office. Seventh floor, right?"

The receptionist frowned, "Mrs Mikaelson, Klaus is on the thirteenth floor now? Has been for nearly a year now."

"Oh right," Caroline laughed, though her inside were drowning in guilt once more. "Brain puff! Can I just go up?"

"That's fine. Cami's already left for the evening, so just let yourself in. It's the last door on the left."

As Caroline walked away, her stomach twisted into knots. He'd had a new office for nearly a year and she hadn't even known.

But of course she hadn't, she'd skipped his last office Christmas party in favour of spending an extra week with her childhood friends in their hometown, before flying to London to spend a week with his family.

Caroline remembered that week. It had been horrible. She'd only lost her mother four months previous, then the two of them had to break the news that, no, they weren't pregnant anymore. The entire time away, Caroline had barely said three words to Klaus, for no other reason than it hurt too much.

As Caroline stepped out of the elevator for the thirteenth floor, she walked tentatively down the corridor, in search of the last door on the left.

When she found it, she smiled softly at his name adorning such an impressive looking door.

And when she stepped through the door, her knees almost buckled at the sheer beauty of it.

The walls were a light cream, and the furniture was all dark leathers and woods. In true Klaus style, the room was artfully put together and well arranged. There was a large glass window running along an entire wall, which opened out onto a modest balcony over looking the city, now shimmering with light since night had fallen.

Caroline looked at all the trinkets and ornaments Klaus had placed around the room, and smiled. They were all little things the two of them had picked up through their lives and travels together.

There was a large conch shell from their holiday to the Bahamas. There was a snow globe of a little tiny town in Britain where they had stayed for the first anniversary as a couple. There was a baseball Klaus had caught at the first ever game the two of them went to.

Caroline felt a lump grown in her throat as she saw a jar she'd gifted to Klaus as a wedding present sitting pride of place on one of his shelves. She'd spent hours filling the jar with handwritten compliments and things she loved about him and things she couldn't wait to do as they grew old together.

Caroline moved around to sit behind his desk, yearning to know what he saw all the hours he spent there.

As she sat, a few stubborn tears slipped down her face. Along side the computer, the pens, the phone and all the papers, Klaus had framed photographs.

There was one of him and all his siblings when they were children, but the all the rest featured her.

There was one of them laughing together at their wedding. There was another of just her on their wedding day, and another of the two of them with their families.

There was a photo of them hot and sweaty after completing a couple's triathlon together. They'd won best overall time for their age division – Caroline had joked that it was because Klaus was in shape for an old man, even though he had only been 27 at the time.

There was a framed selfie Caroline had taken of them at Pont des Arts Bridge in Paris on their honeymoon. Klaus had grumbled throughout the whole thing, saying he was too old for selfies, but she had insisted and he had caved in. She never knew he had the picture printed.

In the final frame was a scrap of paper with Caroline's phone number hand-scribbled on it with a message that read _'I'm too smart to be seduced by you.'_

Caroline's heart swelled as she remembered slipping that same piece of paper to Klaus the very first day she met him, after he'd slipped her one with his number on it with a message saying _'Take a chance, get to know me. I dare you.'_

Swiping at the tears brimming in her eyes, she made to set up her office-floor picnic.

She couldn't believe she'd let so much distance come between her and Klaus. He was her everything, especially now both her parents had passed away.

And, looking around his office, and remembering all the beautiful times they'd shared, she couldn't fathom how she'd ever let herself forget.

As Caroline set up, she pulled out dozens of candles and lit them making the office even more beautiful. She set down the tartan blanket on the balcony, for despite the relative lateness of the hour, it was still a warm evening.

She pulled out the two bottles of red wine she procured that afternoon and placed them next to the fat wine glasses she'd brought. Then she laid out the food she'd packed decoratively, each dip and spread in it's own ramekin, all the cheeses next to each other, and the cold meats and breads splayed neatly on the platter.

Klaus had always loved it when Caroline made him Ploughman's Lunches – or in this case dinners. He said it reminded him of family picnics when he was a child, the times before Henrick and Finn had died, and his family was happy.

When she was all set up, she waited. She wasn't sure how long she would have to wait, but she knew he'd have to come back to the office at some point, considering his car keys were still hanging on the hook near the door.

About thirty minutes later, Caroline heard a shuffling on the other side of the door, and then saw a sour, harried looking Klaus barge through, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings.

Caroline rose quickly to her feet, and watched him as he registered the change of mood in his office.

She watched him look around, confused, until his eyes landed on her.

The look in his eyes as he saw her nearly broke Caroline's heart. It was a combination of hope, relief, love and guilt – and Caroline was _sure_ it was reflected in her own eyes – though he looked almost as if he didn't quite believe she was there. And it hurt her beyond belief to _finally_ understand why he was being distant with her.

He'd pushed her away to protect himself from the wall she built around herself.

"I brought you dinner," she said, softly. "I didn't know you had a new office."

"I tried to tell you," Klaus said, hollowly. "But you had a lot on your plate, with still grieving you mother, and with the school, and the miscarriage, I just didn't want to add to it. Not for something so trivial."

"I like it," Caroline said, another small tear slipping down her face.

"It is nice," Klaus agreed, still gazing at her with those intense eyes of his.

They still hadn't made a move closer to each other yet; as though they were both too scared the other would bolt if they got too close.

"I'm so sorry, Nik," Caroline said, her voice cracking slightly. "I never realised I was the one pushing you away. After mom, and the baby… I guess my subconscious decided I didn't deserve nice things, and you suffered that."

Before she could say another word, Klaus had crossed the room and scooped her up in his arms. He held her closer, and tighter than he had in months. He embraced her for a few moments before pulling back slightly, only to crash his perfect lips to hers.

Only then did Caroline fully comprehend that she hadn't kissed Klaus in months either.

They kissed as though the lives depended on it, as though they could communicate what they couldn't find words for and make up for months of neglect with the one small action.

After minutes of this desperate, passionate kiss, Klaus broke apart, resting his forehead gently on Caroline's and gazed deeply into her eyes.

"I've missed you, Caroline," he said, his voice so full of emotion, Caroline wanted to scream at her past self for ever letting him down.

"I've missed you too," she whispered back. "I'm just sorry it took me so long to realise how much."

They dived in for another kiss, and only broke apart when –

"Mikaelson, I thought you were just getting your coat… Oh."

Klaus unglued his mouth from Caroline's to look up at the three men standing in his doorway. As he watched, Klaus saw his boss eye him reproachfully and his two colleagues, Stefan and Damon, smirk deviously. Though, he never once let the arm firmly around his wife fall, as though he was afraid she would leave if he let go.

"Sorry, Ric," Klaus addressed his boss. "I got distracted."

"Well, get un-distracted, we have to go before we lose our seats. And we know how impatient Shane is about waiting, and he's one of our best clients."

Caroline felt her heart sink a little; of course he still had work to do. She should have known. And she deserved disappointment after how she'd treated him.

But Caroline felt Klaus' arms contract around her. Holding her even closer than before.

"I'm sorry, Alaric," Klaus began, looking determinately at his boss. "But I have a dinner with my wife that I have to attend."

"Excuse me?" the CEO asked. "You _have_ to come, Klaus. It's an order. I'm sorry, Caroline, I know he's been working a lot lately, but we need him."

Caroline smiled, though she felt crushed inside.

"That's okay, Ric. I understand."

Caroline disentangled herself from Klaus' arms, and turned away to begin repacking the picnic basket, knowing if she stayed facing them, they others would notice the sudden wetness in her eyes.

"That's settled then. Come on, Klaus."

"No."

"What?"

"If I have to quit this job to take this dinner with Caroline, then I will," Klaus said simply.

"Nik, don't," Caroline implored, but a tiny spark of hope grew in her heart.

Klaus turned to her as he spoke, focussing solely on her.

"Caroline," he said earnestly, forgetting anyone else was bearing witness. " _You_ are the love of my life, not this job. We let everything that's happened get between us, I won't let it happen again."

He crossed to her and cupped her face, willing away her tears.

"Come on, Ric," Stefan said, softly. "We can spare Klaus for one night."

Alaric's shoulders relaxed as he watched the couple. He'd let the job get in between him and the love of his life, he wouldn't wish that on anyone.

"Okay," he conceded. "But, Mikaelson, you better report bright and early, ready for duty. Don't wear him out too much, Caroline."

And with that the three men, were gone.

"You would quit for me?" Caroline said, her heart swelling to three times its normal size.

"I would do anything for you, Caroline," Klaus whispered, kissing her softly again.

Caroline fought back happy tears, and took Klaus' hands.

"Let's eat."

And they did.

They ate lots, they laughed like it was their first date again, and they talked like they hadn't in months.

Caroline learnt all about what Klaus was doing with his work, she found out he had an associate he worked with, who spent all his time hitting on Cami, and about all the small things he loved sharing with her, but hadn't because he didn't know how anymore.

And in turn, she told him about school. About Enzo, her newest student, who had more charm than sense, about Bonnie and her new boyfriend and about all the littlest things she'd wanted to share with him, but felt she couldn't.

They apologised countless times, both of them crying silent tears, of sadness for everything they'd lost, but also ones of happiness for what they'd found again.

As they finished the second bottle of wine, many hours later, Klaus pulled her in for more drugging kisses.

They kissed, both desperate for control over the other, their tongues fighting, their hands gripping, their bodies needing.

Klaus lay Caroline gently on the picnic rug, and disconnected his lips from hers, to stare into her wide eyes.

He could see the love and emotion swimming in them, and he hated how much distance had come between them.

Her chest was heaving, and her cheeks were flushed, and Klaus knew he'd never see a more beautiful sight than her, even if he travelled to every corner of the universe.

"I love you, Caroline," he whispered, stroking his rough hand down the side of her face.

Caroline felt her heart clench, knowing she'd never love anything as much as she loved him, even if she lived to be a thousand years old.

"I love you too, Nik."

* * *

 **Hello there,**

 **This was also from Klaroline AU week. Hope you liked. Feel free to send me prompts if you feel so inclined. :)**

 **Have happy weekends. :)**


	10. Strangers

Rivers of blood streamed down the dank, dingy streets, intermingling with the rain that fell softly on her shoulders.

Caroline watched as the thick red liquid flowed by and tried to suppress a seductive kind of smirk.

This was what she was looking for.

For the last few months, Caroline had been after whomever had been perpetrating these particular murders. Not to kill him, but just to identify the killer and recruit him if he was a freelancer, or abduct him if he was a rival.

Though, the more times she experienced the aftermath of his kills, the more she admired his style.

It was brutal, and gory, and Caroline was almost _sure_ he'd cottoned onto the fact she was tailing him and was using the murders as foreplay.

That's what she hoped, at least.

Needless to say, Caroline was _not_ your typical 23-year-old. Hell, she was hardly even your typical gang member.

Caroline was a high-ranking member of the Salvatore crime family.

Though, she was more a loose canon than a member these days. But when your mother had been the great Liz Forbes, the matriarch of the family, and your adoptive father was the patriarch of the family, Giuseppe Salvatore, you could be as loose as you wanted.

Liz and Giuseppe had established organised crime in this city, after all. And were only challenged in power by the new kids in town, the Mikaelson boys.

Caroline was by far the most skilled member of their group, however. Even more so than her adoptive brothers, Damon and Stefan. She was cool, calculating and highly trained, and no one ever suspected the peppy blonde was anything more than a ditsy former cheerleading. It was a wicked and dangerous combination.

But she had become insatiably bloodthirsty since her mother had been murdered.

Which worried Giuseppe and his sons. But made for one hell of an operative.

As Caroline walked down the alley, her hips swaying, and her body clothed in tight fitting black materialy, she found an old style, black Chevy standing sentry amongst a field of dead bodies.

Apart from Caroline, there were only two people with heart beats still thumping under their skin.

One was whimpering, spilling out any bits of information he could think of in attempts to save himself.

The other was a tall, sandy blonde man who had an inexplicable air of menace and intimidation surrounding him.

Caroline recognised the cowering man as one of the policemen who was on the payroll of the Mikaelsons. As she peered around, she noticed the rest of the bodies were also crooked cops and she would be lying if she said she was sad about their untimely and brutal deaths.

Caroline listened for a few minutes, leaning on the hood of the car. The cop revealed nothing of importance, and it was obvious he was sorely misinformed.

"And I can tell you more about the Salvatore operation! Just don't kill me!" the cop spluttered, who Caroline recognised as Johnson Dietrichson – someone who used to be on Giuseppe's payroll. "There's lots of history you don't know about! You never met the Giuseppe's co-founder and partner-in-crime, Liz, but she was a nasty piece of work."

Caroline bristled, she had heard enough.

You could shit talk all you wanted, but you did _not_ bring up Liz in front of Caroline Forbes and live to tell the tail.

Caroline slid of the hood of the vehicle and strode over, pulling her silenced handgun out as she went.

"And her daughter, Ca…"

"Oh dear, Johnson, you always did have a big mouth," Caroline bit out, startling both men, who whipped around to stare at her. "I suppose that's why you always made such a good little lap dog."

"You!" Johnson screeched. "This is…"

"Uh-uh-uh," Caroline said, waggling a silencing finger patronisingly. "I'm talking. Do you remember your brother? Lyndon I think his name was."

"Of course I remember my brother," Dietrichson stuttered, a look of grief crossing over his face.

"Well, just so as you know, I was the one that killed him, his heart in my hand was such an intimate moment. And now I'm going to kill you too. Oh, the serendipities of life."

Caroline smiled sweetly and raised her gun, but not before a look of loathing and recognition crossed Dietrichson's face.

"Night, night!" Caroline said, in a sing-song voice, and pulled the trigger.

A bullet shot from the barrel of the gun, straight through Dietrichson's forehead. At this close range, it ripped through him, and the insides of his head splattered the walls, the rest of his fallen comrades, and over the only two survivors in the street.

Caroline strode casually back to the car, and leant on it, the seductive smile back on her lips.

"So," she began. "You're the one who I've been following around for the last three months. I have to say I'm all for foreplay, but this is a little much don't you think."

The man smirked, his raspberry lips curving upwards sinfully, and his piercing blue eyes meeting hers causing sparks to crackle around them.

Normally, Klaus would have been hankering to tear anyone who snuck up on him limb from limb, but not this girl. She was an intriguing enigma – an extremely beautiful and sexy intriguing enigma. And it excited him.

"What can I say," he said, his voice dripping with a blatant lust that Caroline found extremely attractive. "My vice is a little… unconventional."

Caroline pushed herself off from the hood of the car for a second time in as many minutes and sensually stalked over to him, like a lioness stalking her prey.

"You kill people," she said, teasing her lower lip with her teeth, coming so close they were almost nose-to-nose. "It's not unconventional, it's illegal."

"Well, what you just did, love, wasn't exactly legal."

"I know," she said sweetly, leaning in to brush her lips along the shell of his ear as she spoke. "But you should know, I have a thing for illegal. It's just so… sexy."

Klaus' smirk widened, and he brought his hands, which were still stained red with the blood of that night's victims, to rest on her waist, massaging smooth circles around with his fingers.

"Duly noted," he said, brushing his lips ever so slightly over hers as he spoke. "We could go back to mine, and I can show you exactly how sexy I can be."

"Oh please," she said, as she began to run her hands up and down his back. "It will be much sexier to just show me right here."

And with that Caroline crashed her lips to his, passionately taking all he had to offer.

Klaus was stunned for a split second before he kissed back with equal vigour.

She wrapped her long creamy legs around his hips, and he walked them back so she was splayed across the hood of his car.

"I'm Klaus, by the way," he panted in between kisses, relieving her of her jacket and throwing it on the ground behind them.

"Ooo, aren't I a naughty girl," Caroline muttered, her fingers fumbling with the zip of his jeans. "About to bang the brains out of Klaus Mikaelson. My daddy wouldn't be happy with me."

Caroline knew the rest of her family would be appalled she didn't kill Mikaelson the moment she had a chance, but Caroline didn't really care what they thought of her anyway.

Not since Liz died.

"Why's that, sweetheart?" Klaus choked out, ripping Caroline's black blouse into two pieces, leaving it hanging from her arms and her lace-clad chest bared to him.

"Because my name is Caroline Salvatore, and I'm pretty sure we're supposed to be rivals."

Just then, Caroline returned the favour and ripped Klaus' dark Henley right down the middle, revealing the hard panes of his chest to her ready eyes. In return, Klaus made quick work of her bra, exposing the most perfect set of breast Klaus had ever laid eyes on.

He began palming them, and they both groaned, completely lost in their intense feelings of pleasure.

"I don't much care about our family feuds," Klaus murmured, as he attached his mouth to her nipple and began licking, sucking and nipping at it.

As he did so, Caroline finally managed to push down his pants and boxers, displaying her his very impressive, very hard, cock.

With his unoccupied hand, Klaus pushed at Caroline's panties, and she shimmied out of them, leaving both of them completely bare.

"Nor do I, family feuds are overrated," she managed to pant out. "I do what I want, when I want. And if my family don't like that, then they can… OH!"

Caroline's sentence was truncated when she groaned loudly in pleasure and throwing her hear back in pleasure, as Klaus plunged his pulsing cock into her without warning.

"Enough talking, Caroline," he gasped out, as he began thrusting in and out of her. "I would rather hear you screaming my name as you come around me."

The coil in Caroline's stomach wound even tighter at his words and movements, and she began rolling her hips up to meet his, the powerful pleasure rendering her completely speechless.

Klaus began thrusting harder and faster, and Caroline could feel herself being pushed closer and closer to the edge.

She brought her head onto Klaus's shoulder and bit down hard, in an attempt to muffle the loud moans that were falling from her.

At the feeling of Caroline's teeth sinking into him, Klaus let out a guttural groan, and began pushing himself into her even faster than before.

He brought two of his long, calloused fingers in between them to rub her clit furiously as their bodies undulated together.

That was the final straw for Caroline, and she was shoved so violently over the edge, stars popped in front of her eyes, her vision blurred and she clamped down, vice-like, around Klaus' cock.

She screamed out his name, in a desperate war cry, and Klaus was sure he'd never heard anything quite so erotic in his life.

He pushed into her once, twice, three times and he was coming inside of her, his lips dropping her name as though it were the most priceless word in his vocabulary.

Caroline slummed back on the hood of the car, her chest heaving, her breathing laboured and audible, but a look of utter exhilaration on her face.

Klaus pulled out of her, and lay next to her, wrapping his strong arms around her, in an attempt to keep the cold night air from biting her skin.

Caroline snuggled into his embrace, and closed her eyes, hoping against hope no one would walk past and recognise her.

And who she was with.

She supposed they must have made quite the strange vision. Two people, lying completely naked in a dark and dreary alley, surrounded by at least six corpses, both covered in blood that wasn't theirs, and both emanating that glow that always surrounded two people when they'd just had the best sex of their lives.

But neither of them cared about how it looked.

Nor what it meant.

After a few more minutes of heavy breathing, and cuddling – though when Caroline would replay the scene in her head later, she would erase the cuddling – she pushed herself away from his arms, and hated that she felt the loss.

"Well, that was fun," she said, seductively. "Maybe we can have a repeat sometime."

"That would be most welcome."

"I better get going though, at least I can tell my people I know who's murdering their way round the city. Why are you doing it by the way? Usually your people leave no trace of your 'vices'."

"Oh, you know, to send a message to the Salvatores that we're not to be trifled with."

Caroline chuckled, "I would gladly trifle with you again, if this was the outcome every time."

"Agreed."

The two of them stared at each other for another moment before Caroline bent down to pick up her clothes.

Her shirt was ruined, but the rest would cover her sufficiently until she got home.

Klaus pulled on his own clothes, then smugly watched as she redressed.

"Well, I'll catch you later. Maybe we can team up again. Having a murder buddy is much more fun than I remember."

With that, Caroline was striding back down the alley, towards the main road, her hips swinging confidently.

"You forgot these, sweetheart," Klaus called, bending down to pick up her black lacy panties.

"Keep them," she shot over her shoulder, with wink. "Keep you occupied until next time."

Then she was gone from his line of vision.

And Klaus wondered whether he'd finally met his match.

* * *

 **Umm, hey peeps,**

 **This was in response to an anon prompt. It turned out A LOT more fukt than it was supposed to. But I hope y'all like it anyway. Not reallllly my best work but oh well, it was still fun to write. :)**

 **Have happy weekends.**


	11. It's A Sweater

_December 20_

Caroline was _very_ unhappy with her day so far.

It had started out wonderful, really – her outfit had been _perfect_. Cute skinny jeans, lacy blouse, coral cardigan, mint jacket. Perfect for a day in the city. Perfect for shopping. Perfect for the clear winter's morning the weatherman had promised.

It had started to go downhill, however, when it had become evident that the weatherman had lied. He promised clear skies, with cool air, and a light late afternoon breeze. But, after an hour in the city, the skies darkened, the air began to freeze, and a wind whipped up that bit every single piece of exposed skin.

To make matters worse, Caroline toppled head over heel into a pile of snow, courtesy of her non-snow-safe shoes. And some _man_ had the nerve to laugh at her! Him and his stupid dimples, and coffee, and warmth, and red sweater.

Now, to add insult to injury, she was shivering in the bus station, waiting for the bus, which had already been delayed by an _hour_ thanks to the snow.

When she'd first sat down for the bus, she had stripped her jacket and her cardigan, as they were both saturated thanks to her fall and the snow. But then she had quickly put them back on, because she was colder without them than with them.

She couldn't believe it. Her perfect morning, with her perfect outfit, that was supposed to be a perfect day had become a complete disaster.

xxx

Klaus was _very_ happy with his day so far.

He had visited his gallery, which was thriving and packed to find to the brim with people, all excitedly surveying his newest exhibition.

He had managed to dodge three calls from his mother, which was always something he tried to do this time of year. He didn't like to hear her subtle-not-so-subtle guilt trip about why he hadn't come home for Christmas for a solid seven years running.

He did some more work at the gallery, before leaving it in his manager's capable hands then left to have a cup of coffee in the snow. Klaus wasn't a sentimental man, but he enjoyed a few quiet moments every now and then.

He chuckled heartily, but a little unkindly, at the sight of a blonde girl struggling in a snowdrift. He could allow himself to be less than his sullen self on a perfect day like today.

About an hour later, he sat down to wait to catch his bus home.

And that's how he found _her_.

She was a shivering, quivering, freezing, pale, drenched, drowned rat version of a woman. And though Klaus tried to ignore her, even as a shivering, quivering, freezing, pale, drenched, drowned rat version of a woman she was probably the most stunning woman he'd ever laid his eyes on.

So he sat down next to her.

"Are you alright, love?" he asked.

"F-f-f-fine," she muttered, her teeth chattering so much that she was hardly audible.

"You don't look fine," he mused.

"Yeah, well, I wasn't fine when I was waist deep in snow earlier either, but you just laughed then. Why is now any different?" she snapped. With that, she snatched at her bags, and flounced off, her bedraggled curls bouncing somewhat as she went.

Klaus grinned, and sprang up to follow her. He felt a little guilty about having laughed at her, but, god, she was beautiful.

"Come on, sweetheart," he cajoled. "Let me make it up to you?"

The woman scoffed loudly, and fixed him with a terrifying stare. "There is no cure for being a jerk, so…" she finished her sentence with a very fake, very condescending smile, and got up again to sit somewhere else.

"Let me take you to dinner," he asked, as he followed her once again.

"Are you kidding me?" she shrieked. "I will never have dinner with you. Ever!"

He chuckled knowingly, but didn't press the matter as he sat down beside her once more.

"Fine, but take my jumper, it's the least I can do. You look absolutely freezing."

"It's a sweater," she bit out.

"Call it what you like, love, it'll still help beat the chill."

She looked almost like she was going to argue some more, but then gave up, forfeiting the fight by giving him a curt nod.

He smiled widely at her, and pulled off his coat, then the sweater underneath. Caroline noted, for the first time, that the man was, actually, incredibly attractive, with his dimples and full strawberry lips. He was slim, but well built, judging by the way his dark grey Henley stretched across his broad chest.

When he handed her the sweater, Caroline stripped her top two wet layers off and slipped the dry – and blessedly warm – garment over her head. It hugged to her body and immediately Caroline felt the bone deep cold that gripped her, start to ebb away.

"Thanks," she said quietly.

"Not a problem," he smirked.

As he looked at her in the jumper, he couldn't help a wave of desire pass through him. He'd never – ever – been one for girlfriends, but the men around him often mentioned how much of a turn on it was, seeing their significant others in their clothes. Something about possessiveness. Klaus had never – ever – understood the appeal.

Until that moment.

She just looked so cute in his the red knitted jumper with the moose pattern. And knowing it was _his_ jumper that made her look so adorable just made him want to pull her in a smooch her face off.

"So, 'jumper' is that like British for 'sweater'?" she asked, pulling Klaus from his fantasies of her.

"That would be correct, love."

"And is 'love' and 'sweetheart' British speak for 'I can't be bothered asking your name'?" she queried, wryly.

"Not exactly," Klaus said, mulishly. "Just something we call those we haven't had the pleasure of being acquainted with."

"Touché," she said, offering him the tiniest of smiles – a smile that made Klaus' heart do a funny somersault.

"I'm Klaus," he said, offering his hand.

"Caroline," she replied.

As Caroline took his hand, a jolt ran through him and, judging by the way she tensed up, she felt it too. She stared up at him, with beautiful – perfect – eyes, and Klaus felt himself begin to get lost in the depth and turbulence of them.

He was just about to open his mouth, to sincerely ask whether she would like to have dinner with him, when her bus arrived. As though pulled from a reverie, she snatched her hand away, and began to pull the sweater over her head again.

Instinctively, he took her hand to stop her from removing it. When her soft hand was in his, he couldn't help lacing his fingers with hers, even if he knew he could only hold it for a second. She made no move to pull her hand away; if anything she gripped it back. The sensation sent shivers through his body that had nothing to do with the cold.

"Keep it," he breathed. "You need it more than I do."

"Thank you," she whispered again.

"It was lovely to meet you, Caroline."

"You too."

With that, Caroline forced herself to let go of his hand, and scurried toward the bus, now no longer cold and shivery, but rather hot and flustered – and a teeny tiny bit turned on – by Klaus, the sweater fairy.

Klaus watched her get on the bus and kicked himself, repeatedly, for not getting her number.

It wasn't until the bus was out of sight did he realise the bus she got on, was actually the bus he was waiting to catch.

And it wasn't until much later, after getting home a full two and a half hours after he'd left the gallery – a trip that should have taken him thirty minutes – that, for the first time _ever_ did he actually want to spend time with a woman.

And he'd let her get away.

xxx

 _New Year's Eve_

Caroline rued the day she ever trusted the weatherman. Since the day she got caught in the snow, she had been coughing and sneezing and generally feeling like something was constantly thumping through her body.

It had obliterated any joy she would have gotten out of Christmas, as she spent the whole time in her bed rather than opening presents, laughing with her friends and family, and doing other equally Christmassy things.

She knew that it wasn't really the cold that got her sick, but at least it gave her something to blame and someone to hate while she lived in sickly solitude.

The only good thing to come out of the entire ordeal was that she now had a cosy new sweater to die her slow and phlegmy death in.

If she was honest, she had only taken it off to shower since she fell ill. At first it smelt beautiful. It was manly and sort of spicy and wooden, exactly like Klaus had smelt. She would breathe it in and replay their meeting as she drifted in and out of consciousness.

But then, after about four days of wiping her nose on the sleeve, coughing into it, and spilling food and water on it, Caroline's next door neighbour, and best friend, Katherine, had staged an intervention and had put her foot down.

Katherine had actually done a remarkable job nursing Caroline through the ordeal, considering the feisty brunette was rarely ever affectionate. She had done Caroline's laundry, cleaned her house and had gone to the pharmacy when Caroline had run out of cough medicine.

Perhaps the deeds were not entirely altruistic, however, as she made Caroline sign a hastily written, and crude contract that detailed all the ways Caroline would make it up to her.

Katherine had come back and done the same thing four days later, and then yesterday – three days after Katherine's last visit – Caroline had finally started to not feel like death anymore and was able to potter about cleaning up after herself.

But today was New Years Eve, and Caroline felt miserable. She was well enough to do most things – especially feel sorry for herself – and she was no longer contagious. But there was no way she was well enough to party – like she had been planning since September.

At around 5pm, Caroline pulled herself from her couch in search of some food – which had become her only joy in her germ-filled incarceration. But as she got to the kitchen, she realised there was nothing in her fridge, and only an onion, a few cans of lentils, assorted half-filled spices, some four month old instant coffee and about half a cup of brown rice occupied her pantry.

She groaned at how depleted her supplies had become. Only that morning she had discovered that she was down to half a roll of toilet paper. Despite the drag it would be, she guessed a little walk to the store wouldn't hurt her. Exercise to energise, as her mother had always said.

So, she clothed herself properly – for the first time since she fell ill – donned her new favourite sweater (no, she didn't feel bad about wearing it around, it's not like she'd ever see him again in a city of nearly 3 million) and was out the front door.

The streets were cold, dark and busy, and Caroline was relieved when she made it through the doors of the supermarket. She decided that rather than get everything she needed, she'd only get what she needed for the next few days.

So, naturally, she headed first to the frozen section, to pick up chicken nuggets (it wasn't just King Curtis who loved chicken nuggets!) and oven bake fries, then made a beeline for the chocolate aisle, where she grabbed regular and chunky kit-kats alike, as well as many other assorted goodies (hey, if she was going to stay in on New Years, she was going to pass out from a food-coma, rather than an alcohol induced one!).

She grabbed a few canned soups, before making her way to her final stop. The hot cocoa. Hot cocoa was, in fact, a New Year tradition of Caroline's. It had started many years ago, with her mom, and had just stuck. And even now her mom was no longer with them, and Caroline was a grown-up she still partook in the tradition, happily.

Caroline smiled, and blessed her luck, as she saw there was just one tin of cocoa left on the shelf. She was in her own little world as she reached for the container, so it came as a shock to her that, as her fingers closed around the blessed tin, a strong, rough set closed around hers, trying to pull it in another direction completely.

"Hey!" Caroline yelled, indignantly, as she yanked the tin in her direction and tried to make eye contact with the person belonging to the hand. Although, it was hard to see him, given that he was grabbing the tin from the aisle over.

"Hey, yourself, sweetheart!" a male, accented voice snapped back, as he attempted to tug the back his way. "I'm sorry but the tin is mine."

"Whatever happened to chivalry? You know? Ladies first, being gentlemanly, and all?" Caroline bit out in retort.

"I may be British, love, but I can tell you now, chivalry is well and truly dead."

"Oh is it now?!" Caroline scoffed, as she reefed the tin towards her with every bit of strength she could muster – which wasn't much, considering she'd already been out of bed more that day than she had in the past two weeks combined.

"Yes it is," he said, pulling back his way.

It was rather absurd, really. Each in different sides of the aisle, having a shouting match over the last tin of cocoa.

At least they provided some entertainment for bored employees.

"Don't you British assholes play Snap?" Caroline screeched.

"Yes, we do, love," he said, in an extremely condescending tone, which made Caroline's blood positively boil.

"Yeah well, rules of Snap are, whoever has their hand on the card first wins that round! I had my hand on it first! Therefore, _I win_!"

It was the man's turn to scoff now, showing off his dimples, as he kept on trying to pull the tin in his direction.

"Look, I have an extremely bossy sister who needs hot cocoa for her sick best friend's morning tea tomorrow, so I need it more than you do!"

Pull one way.

"I need it for New Year tradition that I haven't broken since _I was eight_. I need it more than you do!"

Tug the other.

"I can assure you, love, my sister is scarier than you."

Yank.

"I highly doubt that!"

Wrench.

"I'm stronger!"

Heave.

"I'm sick!"

Ho.

"You're beautiful!"

"You're full of it!"

"I like you're jumper!"

"IT'S A SWEATER!"

At that, the man suddenly stopped speaking, and his grip weakened. Caroline used the reprieve to snatch the tin away and plonk it in her trolley.

She let out a triumphant "YES!" but when she looked back to throw a smug smile at the man in the other aisle, she found he was gone.

She tried to ignore the pang of disappointment – she always loved winning a good battle. And he had certainly put up a good fight.

Resigned, Caroline turned to go to the checkout, but before she could make it to the end of the aisle, the hot-cocoa-battle-man was standing in front of her.

He was so attractive, that Caroline suddenly felt very self-conscious about the stupid squabble they'd just had _and_ the fact she still looked like she'd not seen sunlight in days.

"Caroline?" the man said.

Caroline frowned – how did he know her name?

Until, suddenly, it clicked, and she realised she'd seen those dimples before.

"Klaus?"

She could not believe her bad luck. The man who had been her go-to fantasy for the duration of her illness was standing right in front of her, looking immaculate, while she looked like a homeless person.

"Oh my god! _Klaus_!" she repeated, though it was decidedly more horrified this time as the realisation hit her that she was wearing his sweater.

"I like your jumper," he smirked – and Caroline could have sworn she went redder than the _jumper_ she was wearing. "Whomever picked it must have had some serious style."

"Umm, yeah, I… just, you know…. It's a sweater..." she spluttered. "And I was cold," she ended, lamely.

"That seems to be a common occurrence for you," he smirked.

"I guess," she mumbled, mortification – and a sneeze – slowly building within her. "You can have it back, if you want."

"Oh no, love, you look far cuter in it than I ever could."

Klaus' insides flooded with ice. Had he really just said that _out loud_? He was supposed to be the cool, no affection guy, not the guy-who-tells-the-girl- _he's-only-met-once-_ that-she's-cute guy!

"You think so?" she replied, shyly.

Klaus was at a loss for what to reply, but was saved the trouble, as Caroline let out a store-rattling, earthquake-scale sneeze, which was followed by some chesty sounding coughs.

"You okay there?" he asked, concerned in spite of himself.

"Yeah, just been really under the weather since before Christmas. It's not been fun. I mean, coughing, phlegm, the whole shemozzle," she rambled. "The last time I walked this much was the day I met you and… oh my god! I'm rambling! I'm so sorry. Bad habit. I just…"

Once again, Klaus was struck with how adorable she was, and he smiled good-naturedly at her in response.

"I'm sorry," she repeated, beaten.

"It's not a problem, I've been unwell too," he said, smiling from ear to ear. They kept standing there awkwardly between two aisles, taking up so much room, but completely oblivious to the outside world. In those moments, it was just them, staring into each other's eyes.

Klaus was the first to break eye contact, suddenly overwhelmed by the intensity of the moment, and he caught sight of the contents of Caroline's trolley.

"Wait, you've been unwell, and you're having chips, nuggets and chocolate for dinner?" he asked, disbelievingly.

"Well, yeah," she muttered defensively in reply.

"That will not do," he murmured, more to himself, than to her. "Follow me."

Caroline frowned at him, but followed nonetheless. Over the next twenty minutes, Klaus packed his trolley to the brim with vegetables and fruits, and many other assorted items, but refused to tell her what he was planning. When they got to the check out, he put the contents of both his trolley and hers up to be scanned.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" Caroline demanded, as Klaus paid the – very expensive – bill and left with all her things as well as his.

"You can't eat junk food when you're recovering. Did you mother not teach you anything?" He gave Caroline a wry smile, which she returned with a sardonic eye-roll. "So, I'm going to cook you dinner. What's your address?"

He began loading the bags into his car as Caroline spluttered, "I'm not taking you to my house."

"Yes you are. It's payback for the jumper."

"No I'm not! My house is filthy!"

"I don't care!"

"I do!"

"It's just dinner."

"It's just New Years Eve!"

"And I'm alone tonight."

"I'm sick!"

"I am too!"

He seemed to have a rebuttal for everything, and Caroline narrowed her eyes at him, suspiciously, trying to figure out what she could throw at him next. But then he played the trump card.

"Come on, love, take a chance! Get to know me. I dare you."

Sick or not, Caroline had never been one to back down from a challenge – and it would be nice to have company for the evening.

"Fine."

Klaus grinned ridiculously at her, and she couldn't help but return it with vigour.

xxx

Hours later, both Caroline and Klaus were both full beyond belief. Klaus had made three delicious courses to share, and they had finished every last morsel. They had laughed, they playfully argued about which Bond was better, amongst other topics, and they had shared many details about their hopes, dreams and everything they wanted from life.

Now, at just after eleven, they were curled up on Caroline's couch, watching the festivities of New Year on the TV. Somewhere over their time on the couch, they had gone from sitting next to each other, to holding hands, to having their feet intertwined, to Caroline's head resting comfortably on Klaus' chest.

Neither of them questioned it, even though they'd only just.

It just felt… right.

At about twenty to midnight, Caroline extracted herself from Klaus, on the pretext of making them a coffee when, in reality, she just wanted a few moments to collect her thoughts. But the moment she got up, however, she missed being in his warm embrace.

Caroline hated that the right thing to do was send him home, but she really just wanted him to stay. She'd been lonely for a long time, and he just seemed to fill some of the emptiness in her heart.

"Here you go," she said softly, as she brought the coffee back into him.

"Thank you," he replied, just as quietly before asking, "all that fuss about hot cocoa and now we're drinking coffee?"

"Hot cocoa is a New Year's morning tradition. Before she died, my mom was a cop, and so she wasn't always at home. And she often missed fun holidays because she had to work." Caroline smiled as she told her story; it was one of her favourite things to do with her mom. "So when I was eight, on New Years morning she got me up, apologised that she had to work and made me her secret recipe hot cocoa, to make up for not being around."

Klaus watched Caroline intently as she spoke. The way her hair fluttered around her face, the way her eyes lit up and danced, the way her hands moved animatedly.

She was stunning.

"And then it sort of stuck. As I got older, she would schedule hot cocoa dates after big parties, so she could check whether I was hungover or not."

"Were you?"

"Most of the time," Caroline chuckled. "She knew it, I knew it, but we pretended I was fine. But we _always_ did hot cocoa New Years morning. And after she died I kept up the tradition."

They shared a sad smile, as they both knew the pain of losing someone close.

"That sounds nice."

The minutes ticked closer to the New Year, and anticipation seemed to thrum through Caroline. She knew the New Year tradition, and this year she actually had someone she _wanted_ to kiss sitting right next to her.

As the thirty-second count down began, Klaus placed his coffee down on table beside them and turned to Caroline.

"You don't have to kiss me if you don't want to," he said, awkwardly, as the people on the TV began to count backwards from ten. Caroline just smiled at him.

When the reached five, she lifted a hand to caress one side of his face, and let the other one rest on his chest.

" _Three…_ "

Klaus leaned in a little, one of his hands rising to bury in her hair, an arm snaking around her waist.

" _Two…_ "

Caroline leaned in so close and ran her nose lightly along his cheek.

" _One…_ "

Klaus seemed to lose patience, and he caught her lips with his before the last second passed.

In the background, a tinny shout of 'Happy New Year!' roused from the speakers, and a firework display began, but it fell on deaf ears, as their innocent kiss turned passionate as they began to succumb to the feelings that had been building in each of them.

Klaus ran his tongue along the seam of Caroline's mouth, which she obligingly opened, revelling in the sensations. She sucked his bottom lip while he explored her mouth, and Klaus groaned a little as Caroline's hand moved to grip his arse, pulling him more towards him.

He lay back on the couch, until Caroline's body was flush with his, still attacking her mouth with vigorous kisses. She ground her core over his rapidly hardening cock, and she moaned as she felt his pants twitch.

After a few more minutes had passed, Caroline separated from him with a light popping noise, and she rested her forehead on his, breathing heavily.

He gazed into her eyes, and her just _knew_ that this was what it felt like to fall in love. Her hair was messy from where _he'd_ run his hands through it, she was breathing hard thanks to _his_ kisses, she was wearing _his_ jumper.

And it was perfect and terrifying all at once.

"Happy New Year," he whispered, placing a small peck on her lips.

"What a perfect way to start a new year," she murmured.

"I'm glad we agree."

They kissed a little more, but it was Klaus who stopped them this time, just as Caroline began tugging at the hem of his shirt.

"If you want me to, I can go."

He wanted to give her an out, in case she was having second thoughts. He knew it would hurt if she rejected him now, but she was special.

She looked at him with those big eyes for the briefest of moments, which was enough time to make Klaus' heart stop.

"Stay," she breathed. "Please."

He gave her a beautifully vulnerable smile, and stayed.

xxx

 _New Year's Morning._

Katherine was woken before nine by a far-too-enthusiastic blonde.

"Katherine! Open up!"

The brunette groaned loudly. And ignored to rowdy intrusion.

"Open now, or you'll regret it!"

Katherine let out a string of violent curse words, but pulled herself from the bed.

"What do you want?" she snapped (couldn't a girl catch a break? She'd only got in three hours ago!).

"I'm here for hot cocoa tradition!"

"Wrong house, try next door."

"Oh pish tosh! You always participate too!"

"How are you even so chipper?" Katherine grumbled, ignoring her friend's – truthful – comment. "You partied harder than I did last night?"

"I have a perfect body," the blonde said, with a saccharine smile. "Now, hurry, get dressed! I need your key to Caroline's. Any luck, you'll be back in bed before too long."

Katherine groaned some more, but obliged. Rebekah followed her in, and began yammering aimlessly.

"I hope Caroline has some cocoa powder. I know we're supposed to be surprising her and everything, so it'll be my fault if she doesn't have it. But I sent Nik out to fetch some _last_ _night_ , and he didn't come back! I mean, can you believe it? He was all, 'no Bekah, I won't go out with you and your little friends', and 'no Bekah, not even because you're only here for a few days' and then he says he 'just wants to stay in' because he's been 'sick' and then he goes out and doesn't come back! The nerve of him! Like, can you even…"

"Rebekah! For the love of god, shut up!" Katherine snapped. "I'm having a hard time standing, let alone dealing with your nonsense! Let's just drink cocoa to appease our best friend, and then I can go back to sleep!"

Rebekah's mouth became a thin line, as she muttered, "fine."

The two girls made their way across the hall to Caroline's door, where Katherine slid her key in and they let themselves in, as quietly as they were able.

xxx

"Morning," Klaus croaked, as he woke to find a pair of beautiful eyes staring at him.

"Hi," she whispered back. "Sleep well?"

"Really well actually," he replied, surprised by his own answer – Klaus wasn't much of a sleeper.

They shared a soft kiss, which turned a little bit more passionate after a few moments, until Caroline pulled her mouth off his.

"You know when I said stay last night," Caroline said, tentatively, wondering whether she was being too forward. "I didn't mean just for the night."

"I know," he said smiling, kissing her lightly. "I intend to stay as long as you'll allow."

Caroline's heart swelled to the size of a small watermelon, before she attacked his face with kisses once more.

xxx

Once in Caroline's apartment, both Katherine and Rebekah looked around sceptically. Her usually immaculate kitchen was littered with dishes, except for a clear space on the bench, there were Caroline's nice plates and a few candles on the dining table, and their were two mugs on the coffee table.

But the strangest thing was that it was now after nine, and Caroline was still in bed. Even when she was unwell, she had moved from the bed to the couch before nine.

"She must be still asleep," Katherine said, disbelievingly. "It's a miracle."

"Well, I'll get her up, you get the mugs out," Rebekah ordered, before she strode to Caroline's bedroom.

Once she reached it, she threw open the door, and marched in.

The scene she witnessed struck her completely dumb.

"You know when I said stay last night, I didn't mean just for the night," Rebekah heard Caroline whisper.

"I know, I intend to stay as long as you'll allow."

Rebekah couldn't quiet comprehend what was happening.

Nik, her precious brother Nik, no feelings, no strings attached, Nik, had his arms around, _and was whispering promises to_ , her sweet, loving, kind best friend Caroline, who was looking at him as though he were the sun.

And to make matters worse, they were both stark naked.

And _they were kissing_.

Rebekah couldn't believe how stupid she had been. Caroline had literally talked endlessly about meeting a British _Klaus_ – how many of them could be hanging around? – and Nik had come home with talks of the cold blonde who he lent his jumper.

With that revelation, Rebekah seemed to find her voice and she began shrieking, over and over again, "You two are Sweater Fairy and Shiver Snowdrift Girl?"

The two in the bed sprang apart, and both screeched, " _Bekah_?!" before turning, bewildered to each other.

"You know…" Klaus began.

"Rebekah?" Caroline finished.

"I think I'm going to be sick! They're finishing each other's sentences!" Rebekah screamed hysterically.

"She's my sister," Klaus said, to Caroline, ignoring Rebekah's loud interruption.

"She's my best friend! We went to college together."

"Small world," Klaus grinned, before smirking slyly at his sister, and kissing Caroline again (anything to make his sister squirm).

"Why are you here, Bekah?" Caroline asked, as she managed to find the will power to stop kissing Klaus.

"Hot cocoa! You're tradition!" Rebekah yelled, dramatically.

Katherine, who had joined the debacle somewhere along the line, began to pull the nearly hyperventilating Rebekah from Klaus and Caroline in the bedroom.

"Come on, sweetie, let's let them get decent. Then I'm sure you'll get your explanation."

As the two fully clothed adults, left the two naked ones to dress, the latter two grinned sheepishly at each other.

"Not how I expected this morning to go," Klaus said, honestly.

"Nor me," Caroline grinned back.

The two dressed quickly, Klaus pulling his Henley and jeans from the day before on, and Caroline once again donning her new favourite sweater.

As they were about to reopen the bedroom door, Klaus kissed Caroline one last time, and gave her a tight hug.

"I'm so glad I lent you my jumper," he said softly, as he opened the door.

"It's a sweater," Caroline cheekily corrected. "And me too."

* * *

 **Suppppp!**

 **First update of the year, how funn! HOpe you all had wonderful new years! I did, I think. It was a strange night that swung from hilarious fun to my sister having in depth conversations with me (she a little tipsy and me sober AF) about really heavy world topics. But that is me over sharing! Moving onnnnn!**

 **This I wrote for the Klaroline Winter Wonderland Gift Exchange (so it's on AO3 as well), which was really lovely to be involved with. Shout out to Alice (** **blehllamyblake on tumblr)** **, who I wrote this for. She has a cool blog, check it out. :) Rightio HOPE YOU LIKED IT!**

 ***loveheartemojisallaround!***


	12. Like A Family

"Miss Forbes?"

Caroline felt a little tug at her sleeve as she sat behind her desk. When she looked up she noticed the big blue eyes of Merida Mikaelson staring back at her.

"How can I help you, Miss Mikaelson?" Caroline asked, a wide, happy smile gracing her lips.

Merida was by far one of the most gorgeous kids she had in her class. She was bright, bubbly and seemed to have a enthusiasm for learning that was practically unrivalled.

Though, Caroline was a little intrigued as to why the little girl was still at school. The bell had rung at least thirty minutes ago.

"My daddy never came to pick me up," the little blonde said, her lip wobbling slightly. "And I don't know what to do."

Caroline's heart clenched for the child. She knew Merida didn't have the most traditional of home lives, but she never got the impression the girl wasn't loved.

"Oh, sweetie," Caroline said, picking the eight-year-old up to give her a hug, "I'm sure he'll be here soon. Do you want me to give him a call?"

The young girl shook her head vigorously, and a few tears began to fall from her eyes. "Daddy doesn't like phone calls. They distract him."

Caroline frowned slightly, not sure what the best course of action was, though she was definitely starting to dislike Mr Mikaelson.

"Well, how about we wait for a few more minutes, and then call him. If he doesn't answer I can take you home. Does that sound good?" The distraught looking girl, nodded her head, and Caroline continued, "Why don't you sit there and do some of your homework while you wait?"

Merida nodded again, and sat at the desk nearest to Caroline's and began to work quietly.

Ten minutes later, Caroline had finished all the pressing work she had to do, and glanced over at the poor, forgotten girl. Despite the fact Merida had seemed very upset and overwhelmed earlier, she looked calm – and almost smug – as she did her homework, which Caroline found odd. But at least she wasn't crying anymore.

Caroline got to her feet and padded into the office and tried to call the Mikaelson residence, to no avail. She sighed as she checked the address she had on file for the Mikaelsons, before striding back out to collect her things.

"So, your dad didn't answer," Caroline told the little girl, trying to keep the judgement from her voice. "Are you sure he'll be at home?"

"Mhm!" Merida nodded. "Daddy works from home."

"Okay," Caroline said, still a little sceptical, but took the other blonde's hand and led her to the car.

Once in, they chatted away. Merida told Caroline all about having heaps of aunts and uncles and how cool it was. She regaled Caroline with all the mischief she and her uncles Kol and Enzo got up to when her dad was away, before moving onto how great it was to shop with her aunties Bekah and Kat.

By the time Merida had got to the things her uncle Elijah would teach her, they were pulling up outside a very nice looking home. While it was an impressive house in an affluent neighbourhood, it still looked lived in and it was very obvious a young child lived there, which, again, seemed at odds with Mr Mikaelson forgetting his daughter.

Merida climbed out of the car, her schoolbag in hand, and raced to the door, banging on it enthusiastically. Caroline followed at a slower, warier, pace, unsure of what to expect.

She heard a shuffle on the other side of the door, and braced herself for what was to come.

When the door swung open, boy, did Caroline get an eye full.

There stood a very underdressed, bleary-eyed Mr Mikaelson. It honestly looked like he had just been having a cheeky afternoon nap. His hair was ruffled, and the hard panes of his chest were in full view, a trail of hair snaking down his torso, before getting lost in the light grey, very _very_ thin, cotton boxer shorts that were sitting low on his hips.

Caroline gaped helplessly for a few moments, while he gaped helplessly back at her, both adults looking like deer caught in headlights.

"Oh… ahh… hi," he said, his eyes not leaving hers, but Caroline could tell, from the detailed appraisal she had just been giving his body, that his ears were turning bright red with embarrassment.

But before she could answer, there was an excited squeal and Merida threw herself at her father.

"Daddy!"

Immediately, he seemed to forget his discomfit, and he scooped her up in his arms, tightly squeezing her.

"Hello, my love," he crooned, ruffling her hair, and giving her a kiss on the forehead. "What are you doing home so early?"

"Umm," Merida said, guiltily.

She turned her big blue eyes onto Caroline, who was still standing – quite dumbstruck – on the sidelines. She recognised that Merida needed a little help explaining things, however, and jumped in.

"Well, Mr Mikaelson," she began, the barest hint of accusation in her voice.

"Klaus," he interrupted, flashing her a dashing smile.

"I beg your pardon?" she frowned.

"Please, call me Klaus. Mr Mikaelson was my step-father, a man I do not wish to be associated with."

"I see, Klaus then," Caroline continued, a little flustered by the gorgeous smile he was still giving her. "Merida here wasn't picked up after school today, and you didn't answer my calls. So I brought her home for you."

It was Klaus' turn to frown, as he looked from his daughter in his arms to the beautiful blonde on his doorstep.

"Merida said there was an after school program that Miss Forbes was running, and I should pick her up at five," he said slowly, the cogs turning in his head.

"I'm not running any programs at the moment," Caroline said, confused.

Both sets of adult eyes fell on the cheeky looking young girl, still firmly in Klaus' grip. She began squirming under the commanding gazes of two of her favourite grown ups.

"Merida, did you lie to both me and Miss Forbes about this afternoon?" Klaus asked, disappointment dripping from his voice.

"Maybe," the girl said, guiltily.

Klaus placed the eight-year-old back on the ground, fixed her with his best disappointed-dad-face and said, "Merida, I've taught you better than that. And you inconvenienced Miss Forbes in the process. What on earth were you thinking?"

Merida looked at her feet, and a few tears began to fill her eyes as she realised that maybe her plan wasn't such a good idea.

"I just wanted Miss Forbes to have dinner with us like a family. She's my favourite girl in the whole world, after Aunt Bekah and Aunt Kat, and I wanted her to come over like they do."

At that, Caroline felt her heart completely melt, and she no longer felt at all irritated at the afternoon's proceedings. She knew what it was like to grow up with only one parent, and all she ever wanted was to have a normal family like her friends – no amount of father substitutes filled the gap.

"And I heard you tell uncle Elijah that Miss Forbes was by far the most beautiful woman you've ever seen, so I didn't think you'd mind."

At that, Caroline unglued her eyes from the little girl and levelled them at her father who was once again turning a violent shade of red – basically confirming Merida's words.

Klaus looked over at Caroline, rubbing the back of his neck. He flashed her a sheepish smile, which Caroline returned a little awkwardly, unsure of how to react after finding out the most attractive man she'd ever seen thought she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.

After a few moments of heated, evaluating stares between the two adults, they both seemed to remember a child was present – and that eye-fucking was probably inappropriate – and tore their eyes from one and other.

"I don't like that you lied, Merida," Klaus said, firmly. "You will have to be punished for that."

The young girl looked sadly back at her feet, but nodded, graciously accepting her fate.

"But Miss Forbes can stay for dinner if she would like."

"Oh, yes please! Miss Forbes, will you!?" Merida cheered, so excitedly she began jumping up and down.

Caroline's eyes quickly snapped back to Klaus. He was smirking at her, as though daring her to crush the little girl's dreams. Caroline smiled softly, more than happy to spend the evening with two such beautiful people, rather than alone on her couch.

"I will put a shirt on, love," Klaus said, still smirking. "If it makes you uncomfortable."

Her smile turned into a playful scowl, but her insides were doing somersaults at the flirtatious tone he was using.

"I would love to."

Both father and daughter were very _very_ pleased, although one hid his excitement much better than the other.

xxx

Hours later, a burnt-out-from-excitement Merida had crashed, and been put to bed, while Miss Forbes had done the incredibly inappropriate and unprofessional thing and shared more than one glass of red wine with Klaus.

As she pulled her coat on to leave, at nearly ten o'clock, he said to her, "You know, I never thought my eight-year-old daughter would be such a good wingman."

Caroline blushed profusely, but didn't say anything, not trusting herself to speak.

"I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this evening. Would I be too forward to ask whether you'd like to do it again sometime?"

Caroline's heart froze, then began to pump incredibly fast while doing backflips. Her mouth was about to blurt out _'a thousand times YES do I want to do it again. And then we can just do it!'_ but she stopped herself just in time.

"I don't think that would be a good idea," Caroline said. "But," she continued a little of her own flirtation entering her tone, as she leaned closer to him to whisper in his ear, "the school year ends in less than three months, and I will no longer be Merida's teacher. Ask me again then, and there will _definitely_ be a different answer."

"I will hold you to that," he replied, brushing his lips lightly on her cheek. "It was lovely to meet you properly, Caroline."

"You too, Klaus."

* * *

 **Hey peeps,**

 **This is something I wrote for themikaelsoncupcake, because she's cool. Go read her story The Beauty and the Saint. Umm, yeah, hope you like. Someone requested a sequel, so there may be another part... Stay tuned (and if you want a sequel lemme know, motivation lol).**

 **Love you all, as usual. :) Have good days/nights!**


	13. Dinner, For Now

It had only taken Caroline half a semester into freshman year at college to realise that she was _not_ cut out for journalism. The amount of rules she had to follow, and the sheer lack of creativity involved made her shudder every time she stepped into class.

It had then only taken her the remainder of that semester for her to realise that she wanted to study digital design. It was much more hands on, and she had so much more freedom to do as she pleased with her projects.

 _Then_ it had only taken a few weeks for her to realise that, while she had a keen eye for colour and detail, and her skills at using all the software was practically unrivalled, she had never been that great at the whole drawing thing.

So, from that day forth, Caroline threw herself into ever extra-curricular art program there was and whenever she had to enrol in courses for the approaching semester, she took her compulsory units, and all her elective units went towards improving her art skills.

And she had grown to love it.

That was how Caroline found herself, five days before the beginning of her final year, being summoned to the office of the head of the art department.

"Caroline, do come in," Professor Gray said, as she knocked on the door.

"Hi Prof," she replied grinning, as she took a seat.

"Your summer was good?"

"Yeah! I was able to do heaps practical hands on work!" Caroline chirped happily. "Would you believe the businesses of Mystic Falls don't have very good websites? So I was able to design and code all those. It was really good experience. I got a lot of painting time too!"

"Well, that's wonderful," the professor smiled. "Now, while I very much enjoy your company, Caroline, I actually asked you here for a favour."

"Thought as much," she smirked in response.

"Yes, well, as you know we have a pretty solid exchange program here."

Caroline nodded. Oh, how she knew the exchange program. She had spent the first semester of the previous year in Barcelona… let's just say, that had been the most exhausting, and exhilarating experience of her life, and leave it at that. She had always been of the belief that what happened in Barcelona, _stayed in Barcelona_.

"And for the first time in at least seven years, we have an exchange student coming to join the art department!" Professor Gray, excitedly stated. "Anyway, he's coming from a really prestigious art school in Paris, and I need my best girl to show him around campus and make him feel welcome his first week here."

"I can do that!" Caroline grinned, secretly loving that she was the professor's 'best girl', she had always been somewhat of a teacher's pet. "When does he arrive? What's his name?"

"He arrives the morning class goes back, and his name is Klaus Mikaelson."

"Klaus Mikaelson?" Caroline repeated sceptically. "That's sounds more like 10th century Viking than 21st century French."

"Agreed. It is very last minute and as such, I don't know what his level of English is, but he's enrolled in all the same courses as you. Apparently he wants to branch out a little this semester. So that should make it easier for you but…"

"But?"

"We need someone to pick him up from the airport, as he's coming in later than all the other exchanges."

"And you want me to get him?"

"Would you mind…?"

Caroline sighed melodramatically, before smiling at Gray once more. "Not at all. Just text me his flight details, and any other details about him."

"There's not much to tell, his file is pretty thin. But apparently he chose New Orleans because he has family here in the French Quarter."

The two of them talked for another half an hour, hashing out the particulars, before Caroline bid her goodbyes. She left the office bouncing with excitement.

xxx

Caroline's excitement didn't extend to the early morning drive to the airport a week later. Caroline was realising her middle school level French was shaky in the middle of the day, let alone when it 5am. And she had to entertain a French student with an unknown level of English?

Dead on her feet, Caroline waited anxiously at the arrivals gate, the letters of his name stretching across the sign in her hand. She hope against hope she would make a good impression, she didn't want the first art exchange in years to go back to his school with bad reviews.

After about forty five minutes, Caroline saw a man walk through the arrival gate and scan the crowd with his brow furrowed, though recognition seemed to pass through his eyes when he found Caroline's sign.

Relieved, Caroline smiled widely at him. After giving him a cursory once over – and concluding he was _incredibly_ attractive – her gaze returned to his face only to find his lips curved into predatory smirk that had Caroline's heart fluttering.

"Bonjour, mon chéri!" the man, who she assumed was Niklaus greeted her.

"Bonjour," she nodded politely, her accent making it obvious her French was subpar. "Je m'appelle Caroline. Je suis Aux états unis."

Caroline was _sure_ she saw his smirk widen for a fleeting moment, before it was replaced by a look of over the top confusion – though Caroline thought she saw badly hidden glee in his eyes. But surely not?

"Tu ne vraiment pas parler français, n'est-ce pas?"

"I'm sorry," Caroline muttered, her face heating up. "I don't really speak much French."

"Et bien, tu es très mignonne."

She huffed a little in frustration, and pulled out her phone. Google Translate was going to become her best friend that day, she was sure of it. Though, she had no chance of figuring out what he said, because she was not able to recall his exact words, nor have any chance of being able to spell them.

"I can listen to England, but not speak so good," he said in a thick French accent, giving her a bashful smile – though she did see the flash of mischief in his eyes again, which confused her even more.

"Well, let's get going then shall we?" Caroline said, awkwardly.

"Allons-y."

xxx

 _ **Twenty minutes earlier**_

 _Making his way through customs was awful. Boring, tedious, mind numbing, awful. It wasn't as if he wasn't a citizen, so why the rigmarole? Sure, he hadn't been back to New Orleans since he was about 18, but he was a citizen nonetheless._

 _When he finally made it through the gates, Klaus scanned around, looking for this alleged student guide who was supposed to be picking him up. He was still salty that none of his siblings had it in their hearts to take anytime to collect him from the airport, and he was to be stuck socialising with some complete stranger who probably had_ no _idea about art._

 _He scanned the crowd, a scowl on his face, until he spotted his name in large curly colourful letters. He smiled softly, and against his better judgement at it. It was kind of endearing to see someone had put such effort into something for him._

 _Then he saw the woman attached to the sign, and his smile got considerably more devious. She was one completely beautiful specimen. She was like a goddess, with her long toned legs and golden ringlets spilling over her shoulders. He couldn't believe she looked like that before seven in the morning, but, boy was he going to have fun with this one._

 _As he approached her, he smiled and spread his arms to her._

" _Bonjour, mon cherie!" he said, knowing how much girls fell to pieces over the French language._

 _Her response made his smirk widen and he realised her French was as rough as his painters hands, so he decided to play a little game with her._

" _I can listen to England, but not speak so good," he said, putting on a thick French accent, to disguise the fact his natural accent was British, which would in turn hide his true heritage._

 _He watched her flinch at his poor use of her mother tongue, while trying to maintain her bright smile._

" _Well, let's get going then shall we?" Caroline said, awkwardly._

" _Allons-y," he replied, laughing at how she surreptitiously tried to Google search the phrase._

" _Yes!" she said, triumphantly – though he wasn't sure whether she was triumphant that the page had loaded fast enough that she now understood or whether it was because now she could respond to him. "Let's go, indeed."_

xxx

On the car ride, Caroline had the bright idea of circumventing the awkward language barrier by yammering on, miles a minute, in English.

She went on….

"So, I'm not really an art major, I do digital design, but I needed to hone my artistic skills, so I took electives, and now I love it. I'd love for you to show me some of your work if you're not too private about it!"

And on…

"I'm not very good at sketching, but according to my professors I have a good eye for colour. So, I've been experimenting with different textures in my paintings for class, making them more abstract, and just practicing my sketching in my free time rather than having them graded."

And on…

"But I am totally over Tyler! My friends think I'm not because I haven't got a new boyfriend, and the judgement I'd get if I told them that I am actually just having casual sex with someone I met on the internet! I mean, I've always been solidly a boyfriend kind of girl, but I don't want that right now, you know? I just want to get through senior year!"

And on…

"I mean, the sex is good, but like he's not very creative. I would definitely be down for more role-play and kinky stuff, but he's a traditional kind of guy. Someone unpredictable. You know, I really like that you can't understand a word I'm saying. It's really freeing to be actually able to talk about this kind of stuff, even if you're not in a position to give feedback."

And on…

"None of my friends think I'll be good at this in the industry. Apparently you have to be cynical and pretend to have no feelings if you work in the professional design field, and no one will take me seriously because I'm enthusiastic and optimistic. But I'll show them."

And on, until Klaus interjected with a smirk, "Tu sais parler en faite?"

"Umm…" Caroline said, halting mid rant about how her mother's workaholic tendencies. "I'm sorry. I like to talk. It helps me not feel so awkward… or incompetent for not knowing any French."

Her cheeks flamed red again, and Klaus just kept his infuriating smirk on. She really was adorable. He knew she'd be mortified when she found out that everything she had just confessed, he understood perfectly, but he was committed to seeing this prank through to the end.

After that, the car lapsed into silence, and she kept shifting in her seat, uncomfortable with the silence, but more uncomfortable with the fact she wasn't able to communicate with him. Klaus found himself wishing that he'd never said anything, he'd enjoyed listening to her speak. Her face was so animated. She seemed to put more emotional energy into her words than he put into anything, and for the first time in a long time, Klaus felt himself feel a twinge of _something_ in his heart.

But he pushed that away.

"So, our first class starts at nine," she said, sheepishly, as they neared the university. "I thought I would take you to your accommodation, and then we could grab some breakfast before class? Is that okay?"

"Food?" Klaus said, putting his accent on again. "Then class?"

Caroline smiled, and nodded encouragingly.

"Please, yes," he replied.

"Great!"

xxx

The rest of the day passed in a similar fashion to the car ride.

Caroline's shyness about her French evaporated with the end of their first class, and she became her bubbly chattering self once more. He found that he was actually enjoying her company immensely, even if he couldn't talk back to her just yet.

Around lunch time, when they had a couple of hours break, Caroline asked him tentatively if she could practice her mediocre French, and he wouldn't laugh. To which he agreed, eagerly, and they spent until their next class passing niceties to one another while Caroline's untrained tongue clumsily shaped the different words in her mouth.

At the end of the day, Klaus walked Caroline back to her house, as he'd purposely left his messenger bag in her car that morning so he'd have an excuse to walk with her some more.

"Did you want to come in for a minute?" Caroline asked, gesturing towards the door. "I just want to put my stuff down before I take you home."

Klaus nodded, and they both stepped inside the house. From what he'd learned about the blonde that day, her small apartment was very her. There were numerous photos and little mementos lining the walls and the surfaces, as well as a few paintings and candles.

But what caught his attention were the two large easels set up in the middle of the room. One looked awful, in his opinion, splashes of greens and browns and oranges that didn't seem to mesh together well at all.

"Je trouve que cette peinture ressemble a une grenouille qui porte une combinaison," he said.

"Ahh," Caroline said, furiously trying to Google what he'd said – but giving up after she realised that, once again, spelling would be her worst enemy. "That's not actually mine. A friend of mine was crashing here while I was painting that one," she gestured to the other painting. "And he wanted to try too. I think it looks like a frog in a jumpsuit."

Klaus nearly choked at her words, thinking about how close her interpretation was to his. He covered his little out burst by passing it off as a cough, and turned his eyes to the other painting.

In one word, it was beautiful. She had confidence in her brush strokes that spoke of years of practice and the mix of colours and textures made him a little jealous at her natural talent. He never would have known she'd only started painting only two years before.

Before he could stop himself, Klaus blurted out, "elle est belle, comme toi en fait."

Their eyes locked together. Belle, she knew that word. Caroline got very hot all of a sudden, as the meaning of his words and the intensity of his stare became too much for her. Klaus couldn't believe what he'd just said, and he was relieved that Caroline couldn't fully understand him.

"Here's your bag," she said, hurriedly thrusting the brown bag into his hands. "Do you need me to take you back to your place, or can you get there alone."

"I'll be fine," he murmured, a little stunned by just how thick the tension had become between them.

Caroline smiled, and walked him to the door. Once there she turned her eyes onto him.

"I'll swing by your place in the morning, and take you to class tomorrow?" she asked.

He nodded, before taking a step outside, so a threshold was between them.

He picked up her hand, and pressed his soft, raspberry lips to the back of it.

Caroline's heart fluttered, and she _wished_ they were able to communicate properly.

"Bonne nuit mon coeur," he whispered, in a lowly voice.

"Night," she smiled, while her heart pounded underneath her skin.

And with that, he was gone, leaving a very wound up Caroline in his wake.

xxx

The next morning, Caroline was up and dressed and ready to go for her second day of class. She couldn't wait, if she was honest. Mainly because it was her first day back in the computer lab. She loved her art classes, she _really_ did, but designing and coding was what she loved doing, and she was great at it.

Well, that's why she _told_ herself she was restless. It had _nothing_ to do with the sinful dreams Klaus had starred in that had filled her mind all night. _Nothing whatsoever._

She left a little early, and walked to Klaus' place to fetch him for their first class. After she tapped on the door, it opened almost immediately, and there he stood on the other side.

"Bonjour, Klaus!" she said brightly, trying not to remember the thing dream Klaus had done with his tongue. "Ready to go?"

The man nodded and the two of them made their way to their first class.

The day was spent relatively similar to the previous day. It seemed Klaus' English was a little better than he'd let on the day before, but not by much, Caroline put it down to a confidence thing, he was more comfortable around her.

They both finished class at two, and Caroline walked him back to his room, though, if she was honest, she was looking forward to some alone time, she wanted to get a jump on her first assignments.

"Well, I've got to go do some work," Caroline said to him as they arrived. "But do you want me to come back tomorrow? Or do you want to just meet at the class?"

"I have a better idea, love," he grinned, the smirk she'd become very accustomed to, firmly in place. "Let me take you out for dinner this evening?"

Caroline was about to give the perfunctory answer of 'great, I'll see you tomorrow', when she halted, registered what he said, the deafening British quality of his voice ringing in her ears.

"Wait, what?" she asked, staring at him.

"I said, let me take you to dinner? I would love to get to get to know you better. You are very enchanting, sweetheart."

"But you... you are… you can…" she stammered, feeling heat creep into her face.

"Can speak English, yes. Sorry about the misunderstanding, love, but to my credit, I managed to keep it two whole days, while in the company of someone so entrancing, and _open_."

Caroline's cheeks flamed red, when he said open, knowing exactly what he meant.

"I cannot believe you!" she screeched. "You pretended not to speak English just to… to... _prank me_?!"

"Something like that love," he smirked. "It's a safe bet going to the states that people don't speak a second language. And you have to say, it is a little funny."

" _Funny_? You asshole!" she shrieked. "You let me yammer on and on about my sex life and never said a word?"

"It was very difficult, sweetheart, I must say," he chuckled.

"You prick! You absolute prick!"

Caroline was mortified, never in her life had she been more embarrassed than in that moment.

"Thank you so much for humiliating me," she spat, as she began to stalk away.

"Caroline, love, don't be like that," Klaus implored, realising for the first time that, perhaps, it wasn't as funny for her as it had been for him. "Let me take you to dinner? You have to say yes, give me a chance to make it up to you."

He employed his best puppy dog eyes, and resolve faulted a little. She had really enjoyed spending time with him, and now that there was no language barrier, she could see herself enjoying herself more.

But he had lied.

"No," she said firmly.

"Come on, love, take a chance! Get to know me. I promise no more pranks."

" _Lies_ ,you mean," she grumbled.

"No more lies. I'll even tell you about how I went to high school, right here in New Orleans."

"You're unbelievable!"

"I know, love," he smirked. "And unpredictable. I know that's what you like."

Caroline rolled her eyes, but couldn't keep her heart from racing at his innuendo.

"Fine," she said, "dinner. But _that's_ _all_."

" _For now_ ," he smirked.

And that night it was _just_ dinner. Then the next night. And then every night after that for the next two weeks, until 'dinner _for now_ ' turned into something more.

And, in the years to come, whenever anyone asked the happy couple how they met, Caroline would groan exasperatedly, and Klaus would smirk mischievously, and they would recount the story with secret smiles on their faces, both thanking their lucky stars that Caroline had realised she hated journalism and had become Professor Gray's best girl.

* * *

 **Hello! This is a quick drabble I wrote as a Tumblr prompt, for themikaelsoncupcake (go read her stories, they're cool). If you want translations for the french go to** **frenchie (obviously minus the brackets).**


	14. Petting Zoos and Uniforms

Six days.

Klaus only had six days in Boston with his family before he had to be back at Virginia Beach reporting for duty.

And yet, of those six days, it seemed, that _all_ his siblings were busy most of the time, despite the fact he had warned them _months_ ago that those six days would be his only free ones for the next seven months.

Apparently, Finn and Sage were on a camping trip with their small children, arriving back with only one day for Klaus to catch up with them. Kol had scored an 'all expenses paid trip to Las Vegas', because one of his stinking rich college drinking buddies had 'been feeling generous'. Rebekah been flown away on business.

But, perhaps the worst of all, was that Katherine, Klaus' second eldest brother's wife, had taken it upon herself to use the free and in built babysitter that was the visiting Klaus, and schedule a romantic weekend for two in the country. Which, obviously, left Klaus in charge of Elijah and Katherine's only child, Spencer.

Don't get him wrong, he loved his nephew, and loved spoiling him whenever he was allowed leave. But he also loved that he could palm the slightly high maintenance child back off onto his parents whenever he became too sulky, or too demanding.

At the age of thirty, Klaus had been an actively serving naval officer for nearly 12 years. He'd been to cities all across the world, thrown grenades, shot people, but, for the life of him he _did not_ know his way around a four-year-old.

"Just take him somewhere with lots of things to look at," Rebekah snapped down the phone, as Klaus called her in a panic, less than three hours after being left alone with the boy. "I have to go, Nik. I'm working!"

Rebekah hung up before Klaus could remind her of the time he'd been deep undercover, and Rebekah had, _somehow_ – for all the US resources used to disguise his real identity - managed to track him to the city he'd been working in, and proceed to talk his ear off about the boy she'd been seeing.

Klaus groaned, while Spencer continued to snuffle and cry for his mummy and daddy, trying to heed Rebekah's advice. Noticing that Spencer was cuddling a large cow pillowpet, Klaus was struck with an idea.

"Hey buddy," he said, trying not to let the frustration and desperation into his tone, as he scooped the boy into his arms. "Why don't we go to a petting zoo?"

The boy's big brown eyes were still wet with tears, but suddenly held a look of curiosity and a hint of anticipation.

"Petting zoo?" Spencer repeated.

"Yes, mate, like farm animals. We can see real cows."

The glimmer of excitement in the little boy's eyes flamed into a wildfire of delight, and it took all of Klaus' agility and training not to drop him as he flailed around in his arms.

"I'll take that as a yes?"

Spencer nodded vigorous, and, relieved, Klaus snatched up his phone to find the nearest place, and began collecting things they'd need for the trip.

xxx

Full moons.

Full moons were the bane of her existence, she was positive. It was bad enough keeping the hoards of animals calm and well in the best of times, let alone when there was some outside force that made them all go haywire.

The cows were careening around their yard, the goats were galloping over top of everything, the horses were hoofing the grounds of their stables, the rabbits were rocketing around their cage at miles a minute, and the pigs were pummelling each other.

Even her precious chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese were getting in on the actions, all of them clucking, quacking, gobbling, and honking to the high heavens.

And what was worse, they'd been at it all night. Caroline could hear every beat of the cagy cacophony from her little house on the property.

It really was nights like that one that made her want to thrown in the town, and give up looking after the animals.

But then, she'd get up in the morning, feed them, talk to them, stroke them, and she'd realise she'd never be able to leave, not when she was giving old animals the chance to live happily.

As her first patrons of the day began to trickle through the front gates, she couldn't help but smile. She didn't only offer the animals a place to live, she offered the cooped up children of nearby cities a chance to stretch their legs, and realise there was actually a life outside of the urban areas.

The day rolled on, and people laughed and smiled, snuggling with her rabbits, feeding her chooks, and ogling at the horses.

That's when she noticed a little boy toddling around by himself. He had a bag of chook feed in his hands, and a look of bliss on his face. The worrying thing was, he didn't seem to be attached to an adult. So she did what any responsible person in charge would do, and went over to him and see if he knew where his parents were.

xxx

He _swore_ he only looked away for the smallest moment.

But apparently that was all it took for a small child to wander off and become lost in a crowd.

How was he going to tell Katherine that he'd lost her child? _HOW_?

Frantically, he began to make his way methodically around the farm using every one of his navy skills to get the boy back safely. He'd not left a man behind once, he didn't plan on starting now.

Though as he did one sweep, then a second, then a third, he began panicking. How did one child become so inconspicuous?

Then, he saw him. His hand was grasping the hand a blonde woman, and they were feeding a cow together. Klaus saw the sign that specifically said 'please do not feed the cows' and frowned deeply. If this lady was _feeding the cows_ she must be just trying to win spencer's affections before she kidnapped him.

With that, Klaus began to storm over.

xxx

"So, the cows are your favourite, huh?" she asked the little boy.

Over the past fifteen minutes, she'd learned his name was Spencer, and he was here with his uncle Nik not his mum and dad. Apparently Nik dressed not like a normal person, and that cows were his favourite, but he liked the chooks and ducks too because they were cute, and his Aunt Bekah liked to call him a silly chook when he was being cheeky. He didn't seem too worried about being separated from his uncle, so she resolved to just keep him happy while the last of the people disappeared, because Uncle Nik wouldn't be getting far without the child.

"Yep!"

"Do you want to feed them?" Caroline asked, giving the boy a secret smile.

"Uncle Nik says we're not allowed to."

"Well, let me tell you a secret, I'm allowed to. So do you want to come help?"

The crestfallen look that was splashed over his face a moment before was suddenly washed away with happiness. "Ooo yes!"

"Yes, what?" she prompted.

"Yes please!"

Bubbling with excitement the boy grabbed her hand and dragged her to the fence that separated the cow's paddock with the rest of the farm. She quickly grabbed some hay and showed Spencer how to feed them properly.

She was just about to grab some more so they could feed the horses as well when she heard an angry voice behind her.

"And what do you think you're doing?"

Caroline spun around; almost daring him to be speaking to her like that _on her own land_ , but was struck dumb by the vision she was met with.

He was tall, and broad shouldered. Well defined muscles were visible through the tight material of his shirt. His cheeks were smooth, and his hair slicked back, giving her a perfect view of the high cheekbones, plump lips and stormy grey eyes. But then there were his legs. Encased as they were in the dark blue material, Caroline could easily see the curve of his firm butt, and she could almost _feel_ the strength of his legs. She'd never had a uniform kink before, but she knew she'd just _have_ to try it now she'd seen this god of a man.

She really did love a man in uniform.

She opened her mouth to speak after a few too many moments gaping, when suddenly –

"Uncle Nik!" Spencer squealed, launching himself from Caroline's side to the man standing opposite them. "Caroline was letting me feed the cows! I even got to pat one!"

"Was she just," he said, smiling at the boy's enthusiasm, even if he was still recovering from the freak out of losing him, and the suspicion of the beautiful girl who seemed to be hanging at a petting zoo _alone_. "And why, pray tell, was she talking to you at all?"

Caroline bristled. Hot he may be, but where did he get off?

"Umm, excuse you," she responded, the shade pouring from her tone. "But I think you'll find, you're the one who lost your nephew. I was just making sure he didn't wander off somewhere! I do have a duty of care, you know?"

"Duty of care to a child you've never met?" Klaus goaded. "A likely story."

"It is actually," she said simply.

She was about to elaborate, and tell the smug – sexy – man exactly what she thought of him when Spencer, who was apparently oblivious to the adult argument, piped up with, "Uncle Nik, do you think I'll be able to grow up and own cows like Caroline? I think that would be the coolest job."

"What?" Klaus asked, bemused. "Own cows…?"

"Like Caroline, yes," Caroline said, rolling her eyes. "As I was saying, I do have a duty of care because this is _my_ property, and _my_ business. I can feed the damn cows if I want to because they are _my_ animals. Are you happy?"

Klaus may be stubborn, but he had the decency to look abashed. He could be stubborn and not apologise if he'd wrongly accused someone of being ditsy or even of petty theft, but he had to apologise for wrongly accusing someone of attempted kidnapping…

"I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions, love," Klaus said, sincerely. "I was worried when I couldn't find him. How can I acquit myself?"

Caroline gave him a look and was, again, interrupted in her response by the little boy's animal-induced oblivion.

"Caroline," he said, tugging her arm. "You said we can feed the horses. Can we feed them now? Uncle Nik can come too."

"Sure," she smiled, glad to have some company. "If that's okay?"

"Of course."

With that, Spencer chorused a "YES!" and was off in the direction of the hay, Caroline close of his heels.

It was adorable really.

And Klaus found himself not hating the picture it painted.

xxx

An few hours later, all the animals were fed and ready to chill out for the evening, and Klaus and Spencer were still there. Klaus agreed partly because if Spencer was distracted then they were all happy, but partly because Caroline snuggling with the baby goat was nearly too cute to be true, and Klaus couldn't quite bring himself to leave just yet.

After every animal, Spencer had positively _begged_ Klaus to let them stay for _one more animal_ and Caroline, ever the enabler, had said it was no trouble.

Though, when the time came to leave, she found herself wishing they didn't have to. Spencer's enthusiasm and rapid fire questioning about all the animals had been offset by the wickedly wry sense of humour offered by his uncle, and Caroline found herself rather taken by the duo.

The older one especially.

After their initial disagreement, his frostiness had melted, and he'd actually taken a genuine interest in her and her life.

"I hope it's not too forward of me," Caroline blurted out, before she could stop herself. "But would you two like to stay for dinner? I'm sure this little one is famished after all his hard work."

Spencer jumped up and down with excitement, positively imploring his uncle to let them stay. "I want to know all of Caroline's stories from when she was a vet!" had been his main argument.

Klaus smirked at him, before turning his gaze to the beautiful blonde before his eyes.

"On one condition," he said, his tone low enough that Spencer wouldn't hear the implications of the condition, and flirty enough so Caroline _would_ hear the implications of his condition. "That you let me take you out on a proper dinner, say, Monday night? After this rascal's parents are back."

Caroline blushed furiously, but didn't fight the smile that began spreading across her face at the thought.

"That sounds nice," she murmured, before adding, seductively. "As long as you keep the uniform, it does _wonders_ for you ass."

xxx

In years to come, when Spencer was grown, and studying to be a vet, he'd claim that _he_ was the reason his Uncle Nik found Caroline, and that they would never be able to repay him for the happiness they'd found _thanks to him._

Caroline would laugh and respond, "Bitch please! You're a vet because of _me_. _My_ contacts, _my_ influence, you coming to _my_ farm every weekend. I owe you nothing."

It was an battle that had been raging between the two of them for many years now, and Klaus usually watched the scene with a soft, lovey-dovey smile on his face, remembering the first day he'd met her.

"Te only person who has things to make up for is you, Nik," Spencer would smirk.

"Yeah!" Caroline would add.

Usually, at this point, Klaus would turn back to whatever she was doing, ignoring the two ganging up on him, and slyly mutter, "uniform".

That usually shut them up pretty quickly.

Because Caroline's _favourite_ role-play involved one of Klaus' old navy uniforms. And Spencer may – or may not – have borrowed one of them once – or twice… – himself. Girls really just did love a man in uniform.

* * *

 **Hey! This was an eclectic little prompt put together by myself and themikaelsoncupcake for KCVDAY (again). We talked about how cute Caroline would look cuddling a baby goat, and then about how sexy Klaus would look in a uniform... SO, yeah, little bit of fun. Hope you enjoyed. :)**


	15. Like A Family: Part II

" _We're all going on a summer holiday! No more working for a week or two!"_

Teachers had a lot to answer for, Klaus thought, as he listened to his daughter's third grade class wail the chorus to one of the world's most catchy – but also most annoying – tunes.

Despite the grating sound of the eight-year-olds' lack of pitch, Klaus was feeling good.

His daughter had been positively shining with excitement that afternoon, as he drove her and her starfish costume to the school hall where her class was performing their end of year show.

She had bounced through the door about six weeks ago, squealing that she'd been made starfish number one, and that meant she got to sing _and_ say a solo line in the show. And, boy, had she rocked both lines in her tiny adorable style.

But that wasn't the only reason he was feeling good.

He was also feeling good because in less than twenty minute's time, the school year was officially over, which meant that Merida's favourite girl in the whole world – other than Aunt Bekah and Aunt Kat, of course – would no longer be her teacher. Which meant he could now ask her out without any worry of fall out from the school.

The song finished up, and he was secretly very pleased he'd daydreamed through the last of the half of the song, because at least it wouldn't be swirling around his head for the next three months. He jumped up, clapping and cheering loudly, though he wasn't sure whether he was cheering because Merida had been the most beautiful, delightful, perfect girl on stage, or now he could date her beautiful, delightful, perfect teacher.

Both, probably.

"Daddy!" he heard a familiar voice shriek from behind him.

He spun around and caught her in a flying hug.

"There's my precious starfish," he grinned, kissing her forehead softly. "You were definitely _the best_."

"Did you like it!" she asked.

"Oh yes, very much."

"Daddy, can Miss Forbes come over for dinner again?" Merida asked, pulling out her big, blue, puppy dog eyes he always found it so hard to ignore.

It was a question that she'd asked at least once a day since Caroline had dined with them the few months ago, and Klaus didn't really know how to answer it. He wanted her to come over just as much as his daughter did, but how did you tell an eight-year-old about primary school teacher politics?

"Well, sweetheart, I'm sure Miss Forbes wants to go home to her friends tonight. It's her first night of holidays as well."

"But, daddy, _please_? We can just _ask_ her, and she can say no if she can't!"

"I don't know, Merida," Klaus said, as he felt his resolve waning.

"But she's my _favourite_ and she's your favourite too!"

But before Klaus could give his over-zealous child the answer she wanted, Miss Forbes had come from backstage, only to be flocked by a hoard of small children, all of whom were incredibly sad to have to say goodbye.

Klaus distinctly heard one girl say "You're the best teacher ever!" and another say "But, Miss Forbes, I'll miss you". Then another, particularly emotional young lass attached herself to Caroline's leg, and saying, "I love you, Miss Forbes".

As he watched the blonde in the middle of the sea of kids, he felt himself smiling uncontrollably. Surely this was what falling for someone felt like.

She was just so patient with every single one of them. She addressed each one as though she truly believed everyone of them were the most special human in the world – and he wouldn't have been surprised if she actually believed that too.

As her crowd of fans began to ebb away, and parents began to drag the children home, Klaus noticed Caroline's face fall slightly as each one left.

Far too soon, it seemed, there was only about ten people remaining of the previous seventy, and he knew it must be nearly time to go. Caroline had managed to extract herself from the few lingering students, and Klaus spotted her darting back behind the stage.

Merida was off in a corner playing a game with a few of her friends, while the waiting parents chatted to one and other. Klaus decided he'd take the moment to thank Caroline for being incredible, and maybe – if he had the nerve – to ask her out.

He followed her path behind the stage, but instead of finding her bubbly and enthusiastic like she always seemed to be, he found her with a face red from fighting back tears.

She looked mortified when she caught site of him, and began patting at her clothes, hair then face, in an effort to make herself look presentable again – although Klaus thought she was just as beautiful either way.

"Sorry," she said, thickly, attempting to smile. "Just having a moment."

"Perfectly okay, love," he said, concerned. "Is everything okay?"

She let out a watery laugh, and folded her arms protectively over her chest.

"Yeah, of course," she said, a soft smile forming on her face. "I'm just being a sook. I don't like having to say goodbye to my kids, you know. I love them all, and then they're just gone."

"Oh sweetheart," he said, understandingly. He hated saying goodbye to Merida on a daily basis as she went to school, he couldn't imagine her just gone the next day. "It'll be okay."

"I know, I know," she said, shaking herself a little, trying to pull it together. "I usually just go home and eat stupid amounts of carbs and watch bad movies. I'll be right tomorrow."

Before Klaus could stop himself he was asking, "Well, if you would like, Merida has already picked out an Italian take away restaurant for dinner, if you'd like to swap your solitude for company?"

Caroline blinked, once, twice, and a third time before she replied, blankly, "But I thought our first date would be, like, just you an me?"

"Well, maybe it doesn't have to be an official date. We can see how it goes. In any case, Merida has been hounding me to ask you to dinner again."

"Well, if it's for Merida," Caroline said, a cheeky smile playing on her lips.

"It would definitely be for me too, love."

"Is that so?" Caroline asked, flirting, as she picked up a box of stuff.

"So, yes?" he asked, realising just how much he wanted this.

"I wish I could," she said, dejectedly. "I have all this stuff I have to pack up," she continued, gesturing around all the props and set pieces used in tonight's show. "And, just because the kids are finished doesn't mean I am."

"Come on, sweetheart," he grinned, knowing she was trying to convince herself as much as she was trying to convince him. "Tomorrow is Saturday, and I'll help you lug this stuff to your classroom. It's the least I can do."

The indecision was etched on her face, and she was about to give her reply when Merida came zipping in.

"There you are daddy!" she said, sounding relieved. "I thought you'd forgotten me."

"I'd never forget you, my love."

Merida smiled at her father, before she began to give Caroline the side eye, and tugged Klaus' arm until she could whisper in his ear.

"Have you asked Miss Forbes yet?" she said, perhaps not as quietly as she thought, if the small smile on Caroline's face was any indication.

"Why don't you ask her," he replied, knowing Caroline – especially in her current state – would be able to refuse Merida's huge eyes almost as much as he could.

"Miss Forbes," Merida said, in her sweetest voice. "Would you have dinner with us, _please_?"

That seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back, and Caroline's resolve was gone.

"Of course," she smiled. "As long as we get to have ice cream."

"Yes! Ice cream!" Merida cried, jumping up and down. "My favourite is strawberry!"

"Mine's chocolate," Caroline replied smiling.

"Mine too!" Merida squealed.

"I thought you said it was strawberry?" Klaus asked, perplexed, as he and Caroline began lifting the large boxes of things back to her classroom, while Merida chatted aimlessly in their wake.

"Well it is, but if Miss Forbes' favourite is chocolate, then that's my favourite too."

Both adults laughed at the little girl's logic, and then some more as Merida launched into a long winded description of her favourite dessert of all time.

When all the things were safely locked behind the third grade classroom door, and Merida had moved on from dessert discourse to Disney dialogue, the two adults smiled at each other.

"Well dinner then?" Klaus asked, as they reached the car park.

"Actually," Caroline said, thoughtfully, and both Klaus and Merida's heart plummeted. "I think I have a better idea, do you mind if we don't have your special dinner Merida? And we go out somewhere?"

Merida's eyes widened to the size of saucers and nodded furiously.

"Well then, follow me."

She hopped into her car and loitered until Klaus was in his behind her, and then drove off.

It only took Klaus a couple of miles before he realised where they were going, but once he did, he knew this would be even better than a quiet dinner, because Merida would flip – in a good way – and that was worth a lot to him.

"Here we are," he said to daughter, as he pulled into a fairground.

"Oh my god!" she squeaked, her utter excitement rendering her almost speechless.

They heard a tap on the window and Caroline's beaming face was staring at them.

"Better than dinner, Merida?"

The little girl, still unable to say a word, nodded vigorously again.

They strode around the fairground, looking for all the world like any other normal happy family, and that thought gave Klaus tremendous comfort.

They patted animals, went on the Ferris wheel and ate fairy floss; Klaus won both his girls large teddies in the ring toss, and duck shooting, then won a third in the strong man one.

Caroline whispered in his ear that it was 'good to know' that he was strong, and maybe he'd like to show her sometime, to which he'd just smirked, all the while thinking desperately of England.

They went through the hay maze that was set up, and feeling emboldened by the darkness and the crowds of people, Klaus grabbed Caroline's hand – the one not being held by his daughter – and laced his fingers with hers.

They ate corn dogs and curly fries, and Klaus found out that Caroline was a first class junk food eater.

"Not that you'd know it to look at you," he'd breathed in her ear, getting his revenge. "Though you look rather delicious yourself."

Caroline had just been about to whisper her, "well maybe I can offer you a taste sometime" in response, when Merida had loudly asked why they were telling secrets, and could she hear them too, a development which neither adult really knew how to handle.

They then took a second trip on the Ferris wheel, upon Merida's request, and found the loos, upon Caroline's, and then found themselves at the ice cream stall, where Merida proudly stated that she would like both strawberry _and_ chocolate, because then she got to have her favourite _and_ Miss Forbes' favourite, which made all adults who heard the exchange smile.

Merida crashed, however, not lasting more than ten minutes after her ice cream. Unsurprising really, it was already nearly two hours after her usual bed time, couple that with the excitement of the day and all the sugar that she'd eaten, Klaus was surprised she lasted that long.

"I guess you'd better be getting that one home," Caroline said, smiling at the vision of the tiny girl in Klaus' arms.

"I better, yeah," he replied, although he really did wish they could spend more time together.

They walked in comfortable silence back to the cars, their hands rejoining after a few steps.

"I had a really beautiful night, Klaus," Caroline said, as they made it to his car, and he began strapping his snoozing daughter in.

"Me too," he smiled, his head spinning with the truth of his words. "Would you like to go out tomorrow night, just the two of us? Official first date?"

"Oh, I definitely think this counts as our official first date," Caroline replied, her stomach doing backflips.

"Well, official second date. Perhaps a daughterless one?"

"I would love that," she smiled, something the size of a hummingbird flying through her entire body.

"Hang on," Klaus said slowly, as though he was figuring something out. "If this is our official first date… then I'm well within my right to do this."

He leaned forward, and slowly placed his lips on her, bringing both his hand up to caress the sides of her cheeks as he went. He kissed her for a few moments, not deepening it, but letting it be slow and sensual, before pulling away to gaze into her eyes.

"Definitely in your right," she murmured, eyes not leaving his. "It's traditional."

Klaus grinned, flashing those perfect dimples of his, and she could help but grin back like a loon.

"Daddy?" a sleepy voice asked, breaking them from their trance. "I'm cold."

"Okay, sweetie," he murmured soothingly. "We'll get going now."

Klaus pressed his lips to Caroline's one more time before shutting Merida's door, and opening his own.

"Text me your address," he whispered, before shutting his door quietly. "I'll pick you up at 7:30."

With that, he'd started his engine as was began to drive off.

Caroline watched him go, feeling insanely lucky.

xxx

On the drive back to his and Merida's home, Klaus couldn't help but feel insanely lucky.

When he reached the house, he extracted his exhausted daughter from her car seat, and carried her to her bed.

When she was all settled and snuggled, he kissed her forehead, and was pulling away when she said, "Tonight was the best night ever, daddy."

"It was very enjoyable," he replied. "Now go to sleep, little one."

"I want Miss Forbes to stay forever and ever."

Klaus chuckled slightly.

"Me too, my love," he replied. "Me too.

* * *

 **Hello! This one is the second part to Like A Family (which is chapter 12 of this series), and was another thing I wrote for KCVDAY. I dedicate it to livingdeadblondequeen because she is 1) awesome and 2) the driving force behind getting a second part. Her encouragement (and writing skills) never cease to make me feel all of the feels. Hope you liked it!**


	16. Valentine's Day

Eleven months.

That was their _official_ time together. If he counted their unofficial time together, he'd be looking at the last century, at least. She'd floated in and out of his life, travelling, seeing different wonders of the world, having different occupations. She had a thirst for knowledge and a wonderment for life that Klaus found so endearing.

But right now, at eleven official months and 'Valentine's Day' –whatever that was – looming, he was terrified.

Rebekah had dropped in a week previously and, in her trademark snide-trying-to-cover-interest voice asked, "So, first official Valentine's Day together? What have you planned?"

And he had frozen, in the middle of ripping someone's heart out – Rebekah's timing had never been fabulous.

Valentine's Day.

 _Valentine's Day?_

"What the bloody hell is 'Valentine's Day'," Klaus had spat at his sister, his hand still not quite pulling the heart from the man's body.

"Seriously?" the man asked. "I've met Caroline, how do you keep someone like her around?"

Probably _not_ a smart move on the man's behalf, because Klaus roared angrily and separated the organ from his body.

"I'm with the dead man on this one," Rebekah replied, incredulously. "But I suggest you work out _what the bloody hell is Valentine's Day_ , or I doubt you'll make it to your one year anniversary. Good day, brother."

With that she was gone, leaving Klaus to brush the blood onto his jeans frantically, and search the web for Valentine's Day.

Now, on the eve of Valentine's Day, Klaus was anxious, nervous, jittery and skittish about the next day. He was currently hunched over his desk, clumsily folding paper origami hearts, too embarrassed to ask his minions to do it for him. He wasn't very good to start with, his long fingers not quite agile enough for the fine art of paper folding, but he was getting better, and the last three actually looked like hearts.

He was so focussed on his task that he didn't even register the soft footsteps coming up behind him.

"Hey Nik!" a bright voice chirped.

He paled, jumped to his feet, and, in one fluid movement, whooshed them out of his study, not forgetting to shut the door behind him, and have her seated in the courtyard of the compound, and was thrusting a disctractionary glass of blood into her hands, safely away from any _incriminating_ evidence.

"What was that for?" she asked, suspiciously.

"Nothing," he responded, a little too quickly. "Hybrid business, go back to your drinks."

Caroline frowned at Klaus' suspicious behaviour.

"Ahh! Elijah!" Klaus cried, as the elder Mikaelson walked through the entrance. "Caroline here was very interested in your work with children during the second world war. Tell her about it, I have some things to do. Bye."

Klaus spoke fast, and was gone even faster, but before he was gone, Caroline could have sworn his cheeks were flaming.

"What was that about?" Caroline asked, bemused.

"I believe all will reveal itself, my dear," Elijah responded, cryptically. "Just be a little patient with him today."

xxx

The next day Caroline was pulled from her bed in the early hours of the morning by a suspiciously chipper Rebekah.

"Come on, Caroline," the other blonde cajoled. "We're going shopping, and Nik's paying, so get a wriggle on!"

Caroline had agreed – of course she had, you didn't say no to Bekah – and they had spend the day buying dresses, shoes, and lingerie. They got their hair and nails done, waxed their legs – and other places – all the while chatting and laughing. It was lovely, really, though a secret part of Caroline was a little upset that she was spending Valentine's Day with her boyfriend's sister rather than her boyfriend.

"Oh, stop looking so sooky," Rebekah snapped, as they made their way back to the compound. "I've been told I'll be facing the dagger if you didn't have a nice day."

"I'm fine," she muttered distractedly. "It's just…"

Caroline threw a knowing glance at the original, who seemed to understand.

"Yes, well. Put your dress and your new underwear on and I'm sure you'll feel much better. Then wait in the courtyard."

"Why?"

"There is another dagger threat attached to telling you why, Caroline," Rebekah replied, sardonically. "Now off you trot."

With that, Rebekah was leaving an incredibly confused, but also very excited Caroline to get ready.

xxx

"Well, don't you look beautiful?"

Caroline had been sitting down in the courtyard, dressed in her long sleeved, lacy black dress for the past fifteen minutes, buzzing with excitement, but also anxiously waiting, positiveshe was going to be stood up.

"Thank you," she said, biting her lip as she took in his appearance. He really did look breath taking, dressed as he was in a dark suit, his hair slicked back. "You look very handsome."

Klaus felt his stomach do a little backflip as she said it, and he moved in to place a tender kiss on her lips.

"Shall we be off then?" he asked, a little hint of apprehension laced in his voice.

Caroline nodded while Klaus linked his arm with hers and led her towards the waiting vehicle he'd commandeered for the evening.

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again," Caroline said, playfully, as he opened the door of the bright red, convertible mustang. "Sports cars are bad for making out in."

Klaus laughed heartily, shutting her in and making his way around to the other side.

"I'm sure we'll manage," he said, before pulling out a rather unflattering pair of blacked out glasses from his pocket "You're going to need to put these on."

"I am _not_ wearing those," Caroline grimaced.

"You either wear these, or a blindfold," Klaus said, challengingly. "Which one won't mess up your hair?"

"The glasses," she replied petulantly, though was secretly thrilled he'd considered her hair.

"That's right, love. Now let's get cracking."

They began driving, and the nerves that he'd been feeling for the past week returned in full force. He didn't know why he was so worried, it was just another date, they'd been doing them for long enough. But Bekah's insistence that he acknowledge the holiday, the way the Internet had made it sound so important and the fact he was using this to kick-start their one-year anniversary celebrations, just had a lot of unnecessary pressure placed on the evening.

"So," Caroline asked, casually, after few minutes of comfortable silence. "Where are we going?"

"Would I have blindfolded you if I wanted you to know our final destination?" he replied.

She huffed a little, but still smiled.

Honestly, she never would have pegged Klaus as a go-all-out-on-Valentine's-Day kind of guy. She would have been happy just spending the day curled up on their bed together, but somehow, this seemed much more special. And it explained his jittery behaviour the past week, and why Rebekah had taken her out all day. Though, she was still intrigued why Rebekah had made her buy so many things… like expensive luggage, and a pair of walking boots.

Her train of thought was lost, however, when she felt the car begin to slow, and her heart rate picked up in anticipation.

She was _literally dying_ to pull the abominations from her eyes and take a peek, but refrained for Klaus' sake. He quickly made his way to her door, opening it and helping her out.

Caroline noted the soft ground beneath her feet, the coolness in the air, and the stillness of the atmosphere.

"You can take them off now, love," Klaus said softly, the nerves coursing through his body.

Caroline ripped the glasses off, not quite sure what to expect.

But the reality took her breath away.

They were in the most perfect spot in the bayou, a place Klaus had taken her many times. They liked to call it 'their spot'. Although, their spot had a few modifications.

Hanging from the canopy of trees were metres upon metres of warmly glowing string fairy lights, which cast an ambient glow over everything beneath it. Hanging from the lights were handmade paper hearts, and garlands of pink ribbons.

Spread around the setting were bunches upon bunches of red roses, perfuming the clearing with their softly sweet scent.

There was a small table in the centre of everything, draped in a red tablecloth, set for two with the most beautiful and delicate looking bone china, and crystal flutes.

There was a live band a few yards from the table, playing very soft jazz music, and Caroline could see a curtain that separated them from the makeshift kitchen that had been set up.

To ward off the evening chill, Klaus had dug a fire pit, and the orange flames emitted almost as much warmth as was currently spreading through Caroline.

A few paces from the pit, there was a beautiful boho-style tent, draped with more fairy lights, and Caroline could see in it to a bed, just big enough for two, and what looked distinctly like a large pile of presents sitting on it.

"Nik this is…" she said, after a few moments of gazing around at the utter perfection. "Perfect."

"Just like you are, sweetheart," he murmured, placing a small kiss on her lips.

"You are actually the sweetest you know," she managed to choke out through the stubborn lump that had just formed in her throat.

"Don't let anyone else hear you say that," he said, winking at her. "Shall we?"

The two of them sat down, and were immediately brought wine by a smartly dressed waiter.

The evening wore on, and Caroline realised just how much she was getting spoilt. There was a three course meal, consisting of a fancy bruschetta for entrée, a bowl of spaghetti to share for the main course – Klaus citing 'just like Lady and the Tramp – and then the most striking tiramisu Caroline had ever tried for dessert.

In between entrée and main, Klaus had pulled her from her seat, and they had slow danced to the music still being played in the background, causing Caroline to forget almost everything bad that had ever happened in her life, and just feel him against her.

Between main course and dessert, Klaus had given Caroline a jar filled to the brim with pink and red tiny, origami hearts. It was just a decoration, but knowing that the big bad hybrid had spent many hours folding them just to make her smile, caused her to fall for him even more – a feat she wasn't sure was possible.

After they had finished the dessert, Klaus had taken Caroline by the hand and lead her over to the little loveseat he'd put by the fire. There was a flurry of movement around them, as the servers quickly began to tidy up dinner, and pack away the temporary kitchen, so the two lovebirds could have some privacy.

Caroline and Klaus continued to just sit by the fire, chatting, giggling, drinking and kissing. After about an hour, Klaus rose to his feet to grab the stack of presents she'd seen earlier.

Suddenly, as she saw the pile, Caroline was rather self conscious that she hadn't got him anything but the lingerie she was wearing, but Klaus seemed to notice her unease, and tell her it was okay.

"This was a surprise, love," he said. "You weren't to know."

"But still…" she rebutted.

"The only gift I need in the world is having you all to myself," he interrupted, firmly. "And I have that."

She smiled, shyly, still not quite sure why, after a thousand years of not caring about anyone, he was so taken with her, before she began to unwrap.

The first was a photo book, filled with photos dating all the way back to her days living in Mystic Falls, when he age had matched her face.

The second was another jar, though this time, it was filled with pink and red strips of paper, and on each bit Klaus had handwritten something he loved about her, from her beautiful blonde curls, to the way her face twitched whenever she had to talk to or about Hayley.

The third was a painting Klaus had done of Caroline's house in Mystic Falls, and when pressed for details, he revealed that he'd painted it in 2011 – over a hundred years ago.

The fourth was a china dish filled to the brim with shortbread biscuits, all cut in the shape of hearts, and he'd piped 'Be Mine?' in pink icing on all of them. Caroline literally squealed as she saw these, the thought of Klaus cutting out heart shaped biccies for her being almost too much.

The fifth present was a coupon book for a lifetime supply of kisses and cuddles.

The sixth was a coupon book filled with different bedroom fantasies, all of which had Caroline quivering with excitement at the thought.

The seventh was a pair of earrings with pink diamonds set in them, which Klaus had apparently had flown all the way from The Kimberley Region in Australia, the home of one of the world's only pink diamond mines.

As Caroline finished unwrapping the presents, she felt so completely mushy, it almost hurt her. The stars were twinkling above them, the air was fresh around them, the fire was keeping them warm and Klaus was sitting next to her.

It was so perfect.

"Thank you for my presents, Klaus," she smiled. "And this whole night… it's just been incredible."

"Oh, you didn't think that was the last present, did you?" Klaus asked, a smirk forming on his lips as he pulled an envelope from the inside pocket of his jacket. "Here."

Caroline frowned, and opened it to find two one-way tickets to Paris, leaving in less than a week.

"We haven't really been anywhere together, love, except for the occasional romp whenever I found you before we got together. And seeing as I promised you Paris, Rome and Tokyo, and seeing as our one year anniversary is soon, I thought, why not go now."

Klaus' heart stopped then, as he saw her filling with tears.

"What is it, Caroline?" he asked, panicked. Had he done the wrong thing? Was she going to break up with him? Why was she crying?

"I'm fine, I'm fine, it's just…" she said, trying to not let the tears fall. "You did all this _just for me_?"

Klaus let out a sigh of relief, as he realised they were happy tears. He took a deep breath before responding, because this was a big thing for him.

He'd known it for years, but knowing and verbally acknowledging were two different things.

"I would do anything for you," he breathed. "I… I love you."

At those words, Caroline lost her battle with the tears and she let them fall, a blinding smile splitting across her face as she pulled him in for the most heart warming kiss he'd ever felt.

"I love you too, Nik," she murmured back.

And Klaus knew there would be know moment that would be as perfect as hearing the woman he loved say she loved him too for the first time.

* * *

 **Hello! This was a prompt I received for the KCVDAY event on Tumblr. Hope you liked.**


	17. A Bee, Indeed

Their laughter was a sound to behold as their limbs tangled into knots on the floors beneath them. Caroline's head was thrown back, her shoulders shaking, and her curls framing her face, features alight with joy. She was beautiful.

"I told you roller-skating in the house would be a bad idea," she panted, as the laughter subsided a little. "I think we broke my tailbone!"

Caroline melodramatically rubbed her butt, and looked over at her best friend.

Klaus was still laughing as he pushed himself into a sitting position, "It's not all we broke, love, look."

He pointed over his shoulder to the smashed vase, and laughed a little more as her face paled.

"Oh my god, Nik!" she screeched. "Your mom's gonna kill me!"

Caroline tried to scramble to her feet, apparently forgetting her feet were encased in wheels, not shoes, and she promptly fell on her ass again.

Klaus howled with laughter, and Caroline fixed him with her most withering stare.

"It's not funny," she pouted.

"I know, I know," he said, attempting to school his face back to nonchalance, but failed.

"Then stop laughing!"

"How can I love?" he asked, grabbing her wrist before she could try and get to her feet again. "It's a little bit funny, and mother won't mind."

She gave him a small 'harrumph', but a small smile had crawled back onto her face.

Still intertwined in one and other, the two best friends lay back the giggles overtaking them once more.

After a few moments, they collapsed into a heavy silence. It had happened once or twice over the years. They would be just laughing then the silence would come, and it would be comfortable, until they both tried to understand why silences between them always felt so… right.

"What are you thinking about, bestie?" Caroline asked, linking her arms with his, before turning her head to look at him.

She'd looked at him many a time in the same position, but she'd never seen the intense look that was currently etched into his face.

He didn't answer, but his eyes suddenly flicked to her lips, and she became aware of exactly how close they were. Their faces were mere centimetres apart and she could feel every bit of his exposed skin on her, she rued the parts covered in material. She could feel where one of his arms was resting on her stomach, and where the other was linking with hers. She could feel her hands clearly, one sitting on one of his hands, and one sitting close to his abdomen.

She hated that she could feel her heart pumping, and she hated that, even though the intensity of his gaze was rendering her temporarily immobile, she wanted to move forward and capture his lips with hers, taste his tongue and feel all he had to offer her.

She'd never consciously taken note of how she felt until now, and the unplanned feeling terrified her control-freak mind.

So she panicked.

She puckered her lips up and began funnelling air through them, blowing a breeze onto his nose, because, for some reason she thought she could cool the heated moment.

"What on earth are you doing?" he asked, his gaze questioning rather than intense.

Then she realised what the hell she was doing, went the colour of a fire truck, and began yammering.

"There was a bee, you see, this bee that was black and yellow, just like all the cartoons. It was on your face, so I was blowing on you to get it to go away. Wouldn't want that handsome face of yours to be swollen like a balloon at your mom's party tonight! She may not hate me for the vase, but she'd certainly hate me if you looked like the elephant man for the photos and…"

But her rambling was cut off as Klaus closed the distance between their faces, and pressed his lips to hers.

Caroline had fantasised this many times in her dreams, but nothing her imagination could have thought up was as blissful as the reality. His lips were softer than she would have thought possible, and, when she opened her mouth to let his tongue explore, she moaned at its dominance.

Still lying horizontal on the floor, she raised one of her hands to bury in curls at the nape of his neck, as his arms snaked around her waist, pulling her impossibly close to him.

They stayed that way for many stolen minutes, until he pulled away.

"You sure know how to ramble, love," he smirked, his face red, and his lips extra plump. "A bee, indeed," he added, incredulously.

She giggled, a little abashed, a little exhilarated, not quite processing what was happening, but knowing that even after she did, she wouldn't regret it.

"Why can't you stop all my ramblings like that?" she laughed.

"Well, we'll see what we can do in the future but for now…"

It was Caroline who cut off his words this time, instigating another mind-bogglingly overdue kiss.

xxx

Esther had heard the crash, but hadn't investigated straight away, not really wanting to deal with which ever child had caused it. When she walked into the hall around ten minutes later, she'd found a broken vase, and her middle son tangled up, on the floor, with his best friend – or as Esther liked to refer to Caroline 'Klaus Future Wife'.

She gazed upon them disapprovingly for a moment or two – did they have to work out they were perfect for each other in the middle of her hallway? – before turning on her heel and muttering, "Well, it's about time."

* * *

 **HALLO! This was a little something I bashed out in the car this arvo while waiting for my sister to finish her singing lesson (who has younger siblings they have to drive around! I only have one and it kills me (lol)). This prompt was from my-light-into-the-darkness (on Tumblr) or SweetyK here on FF. She's wonderful and sweet and thank you for the prompt! I had fun, and I hope I did it justice. :)**


	18. When We Were Young

**Inspired by the song When We Were Young by Adele, so go listen, it's a good song.**

* * *

Caroline always found time to be the most peculiar thing.

She found living through time, and experiencing history as it happened more peculiar still.

But, perhaps, what Caroline felt was the most peculiar of all, were the things that stood the tests of time.

St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, Neuschwanstein Castle if she thought about the old things. And then Stonehenge, the Great Wall of China, and the Colosseum if she went even older.

But, as Caroline sat in the tray back of her vintage Cadillac, the evening air blowing through her curls, her gaze fixed on the massive screen above her, she couldn't believe that drive in cinemas, of all things, survived the ages.

But maybe she shouldn't have been surprised, no matter what changed, humanity still craved two things: a peace and an escape when there was none. Both things provided by a quiet outdoor movie. She guessed vampires craved those things as well.

As the movie moved into its second hour, Caroline curled up under her blanket, so only her head poked out the top. She reminisced on all the times she'd seen the movie, and all the stability it offered her.

She felt her eyes grow wet for Scarlett as Rhett frankly didn't give a damn, but her heart soared nonetheless.

It had been a beautiful evening.

Quiet moments of peace were rare for Caroline, to entangled was she in her new life as a leading cancer research scientist. It really was a perfect occupation for her. She was passionate about it, and spent so much time cloistered in her lab that people rarely noticed that she had not aged in the past 65 years since she'd begun her research.

She had taken that week off, however. She always took a weekend off around that time of year.

Christmas time she could deal with, just, Thanksgiving too. If she was honest, holidays hadn't held much significance for her since her family had passed away, and she'd been left alone.

But very first few weeks of spring, she found herself restless, reckless, hankering for something _else_ to do. Something new. Something – _anything_ – to distract her mind from the fact that every significant loss in her life had happened around that time of year.

Her husband and children – because no matter what screwed up twist of fate led to them being her family, they were still her family – had been lost in a fire 70 years ago.

Her mother to cancer 50 years before that.

Only one year separated losing her mother, and losing _him_.

Despite that fact she knew she'd never _lost_ him in the same way she'd lost the others, watching him walk away all those years ago, knowing her was leaving because of her word, felt very much like real loss to her.

Her week was almost up, however, and the drive-in signalled Caroline's last day of reprieve. But that was okay. She liked to keep busy.

Back at the small town hotel she was staying, she decided to indulge in a little nightcap before she attempted to sleep. A little booze never hurt anyone, especially not her.

She sat, for longer than she intended, gazing into the amber liquid. Her mind churned through all the moments when she'd been truly happy, and she let a small tear fall as she realised only one person she shared those times with remained alive, all the rest being taken by death many years before.

Caroline was still sitting in her solitude, hankering for company, but revelling in her loneliness, when the bell over the door tinkled lightly, and a sharp bite of the cold outside air flurried in.

She didn't look over, disinterested as she was, instead preferring to swallow her last mouthful and call for another, and continue the dance with emptiness that she'd been doing since for 65 years.

xxx

Klaus was fuming, steam pouring from his ears.

This wasn't how the evening was supposed to go. He was supposed to track down the newest doppelganger, and the latest Bennett witch – who were, coincidently, best friends apparently – and drag them, kicking and screaming, back to his home, where he would offer them both room, board, education and training, so long as they fulfilled their purposes in his grand scheme.

But, as usual, someone had interfered, the bloody doppelganger had turned, and the witch swore she would 'never be a slave to a monster'. It was typical really, and very predictable. If his life had been a TV show, he would criticise the writers for recycling scripts. But it wasn't, unfortunately. Perhaps if it had been, he would be able to bully them into dealing him a good hand for a change.

But no. He was stuck in the middle of nowhere, in a town that still had drive-ins. _Drive-ins_ , for heaven's sake. So backward.

Deciding he needed to massacre the town, Klaus stalked towards the bar, intending to drink himself stupid, before letting his bloodlust take over.

Walking into the place, though, Klaus felt an odd sensation sweep through him, though the high pitched tinkle of the bell above the door made him grit his teeth in irritation.

As he ordered his first drink, the opening chords of a new song began, and they heavily played along, plucking at the string of his heart as well as the string of a piano. It was odd, this kind of ballad always reminded him of _her_.

 _Everybody loves the things you do._

He heard the speakers croon.

 _From the way you talk, to the way you move._

Klaus let the words wash over him, and he couldn't shake the feeling that this song was being played to torture him, a not-so-subtle reminder about how lonely he was.

 _Everybody here is watching you_.

Glancing around the bar, he suddenly caught sight of a long mane of hair. It was blonde, and in perfect curls that bounced with every step. But then it was gone, only moment later.

 _'Cause you feel like home_

Klaus shook himself, stupid man. He was seeing things. That was it, seeing her because he was thinking about her.

 _You're a dream come true_

"Three fingers of scotch," Klaus called out to no one in particular. He needed to be drunk. Fast.

 _And if by chance you're here alone_

"Sorry," a voice called back, as the bartender came into sight. "We've actually called last round."

 _Can I have a chance_

The bartender was pretty enough, with her dark hair and nut-brown skin, but Klaus was not in the business of taking no for an answer.

 _Before I go_

"Three fingers of scotch," he growled menacingly.

"I'm sorry sir," she replied, apologetically, but also warily. "I'll just grab my manager."

 _Cause I've been by myself all night long_

"Three fingers of scotch!" he roared, launching himself over the counter, pinning the waitress to the wall by her throat.

 _Hoping you're someone I used to know_

Suddenly, however, he was knocked off kilter, as a bottle was smashed into the back of his head cutting into his skin, followed swiftly by a second. They were thrown with such force, that one had lodged itself completely in his neck.

Snarling, fangs dropping and eyes flashing gold, he whirled around, fully intending on ripping the entire establishment limb from limb.

But his turning had revealed someone he'd never dreamed he'd see again.

 _You look like a movie._

Her face was still the picture of perfection, like it had been memorialised on the big screen. Her hair was still blonde and curly, though now it was long – so long it passed her waist. Her eyes, which had been twinkling with a smile only moments before, now looked as though she'd seen a ghost.

 _You sound like a song_

"Why don't you pick on somebody your own size," she said, a little tentatively, a little nervously, the perfect words, falling from her perfect lips, sounding as melodic as they had when they'd last met.

 _My god this reminds me_

She was fixing him with a determined gaze, just like she used to in many days gone by.

 _Of when we were young_

"Let's get out of here," she murmured, before turning on her heel and walking away.

 _Let me photograph you in this light_

He watched her, in her beautiful glory, before following out the door quickly, the music fading away with the distance, neither of them bothering to clean up the mess they'd just made.

In the dim, twinkling light of the stars and moon, he could almost pretend she didn't look so draw and worn. He could will himself to believe that, while her face _couldn't_ change, that it _hadn't_.

They walked in silence, until they were away from prying ears, and she turned to face him, her gaze full of such intensity he thought he might burst.

"This isn't exactly how I thought we'd meet again," he said, attempting to sound cocky, but not quite pulling it off, as he brushed a blonde curl from her beautiful face.

"Not how I pictured it either," she said, a small smile gracing her lips, and his spirits couldn't help but lift at her confession that she too had considered their reconciliation.

"It's been a long time," he whispered.

"It has," she replied, fidgeting with the hem of her jacket. "It has."

For a moment, their eyes bored into each other, and Caroline thought – or did she hope – that he would lean into her, and brush his lips against hers, to erase all the turbulence in her mind.

Anything to make her heart sing again.

But, as soon as the moment was there, it was gone, and Klaus pulled his gaze from hers.

"I didn't know you'd be here?" she asked, looking at her feet, wondering – or was she hoping again – that, perhaps, he'd been looking for her.

"Just in the area love," he replied. "I don't fancy this side of the pond much these days."

"Oh, that's good."

She winced at how stilted their conversation had become. She supposed that's what happened after 120 years of no contact.

For the first time since she'd found him again, Caroline looked at him, really looked. He still looked exactly the same, his cherry lips, and storm coloured eyes. His cheek bones still looked like they would be able to cut paper, and he still looked picture perfect like her always had.

He let out a small laugh, maybe because he sensed the inherent awkwardness of the encounter, or maybe he'd noticed her appraisal. But the sounds sent jolts through her, and she couldn't help but giggle herself, at the total coincidental lunacy of their meeting.

And suddenly it clicked, and Caroline was taken back to when she was young and hadn't a clue about the world. Their laughter swelled, and there was nothing to stop it. They were just two star-crossed lovers, meeting for the first time in a long he could melt her heart with a look, or a laugh, and a sentence.

And she wanted to preserve the precious moment, somehow, wrap it in bubble wrap to save it forever, because she didn't know whether this would be the last moment that they might be like this. Exactly as they were before they realised they wouldn't have worked back then. She would have been too young, too flighty. She wanted to experience the world and everything it had to offer before she could have found him.

But, somehow, they'd found each other. Somehow their cinematic moment was there, and it was theirs.

Their laughter died down to a tense – intense – silence. There was no sound but the thump of the hearts that didn't beat, and the rushing of blood through their veins that wasn't theirs.

Just as it had been the last time they met.

And Klaus leaned in, just like last time, while she leaned in too.

Though this time, when their lips met, it wasn't fiery and passionate, it was soft and tender. Klaus could feel all the pain and betrayal she experienced since they last shared a kiss.

Their lips moved against each other savouring the perfection of the moment, until Klaus pulled away, roughly.

"No," he said, gruffly, his face flushed from the intensity of what they'd just shared. "No, Caroline, I can't do this."

She looked so hurt, and Klaus wished he could take back what he had said. He'd never been good at expressing what he really wanted.

"Why?" she breathed, her brow creasing in the middle, just like it used to.

"Because everything takes me back to when it was easy for us. When you were just there." His voice was so vulnerable, more so than she'd ever thought possible.

"Klaus, I…" but she didn't know what to say. How did you finish the a sentence like that?

"I can't do this and have to walk away, like I did last time."

With that, Klaus turned and began to walk away. At least this time he'd only have a soft kiss to agonise over, rather than a confession and their time on the forest floor.

As each of his steps took him further away, Caroline felt rooted to the spot. There was nothing stopping her this time. No friends, no family, and none of their judgements. She was older, she'd had her experience. What was her excuse this time?

And finally, the restraint she'd exercised many a time over the years, when she was desperate and needed someone who really knew her, snapped.

"Klaus," she cried, sprinting after him, tears blooming in her eyes. She stopped in front of him, and let them fall, desperate to make him see she was ready.

She was finally ready to accept they were the same, to accept his offer of Paris, Rome and Tokyo, to finally be his last love.

"I am so mad I'm getting old," she said. "It makes me reckless."

And with that she grabbed the collar of his jacket, and crushed her lips to his, fiery and passionate, and the peculiar concept of time seemed to stop. It was just the two of them in the whole world. After a few moments, they pulled away from each other, chests heaving, cheeks flushing, hearts pounding and Klaus rested his forever on hers, closing his eyes.

"I've missed you, my love," he breathed, and hated how the truth rung in the words.

"I've missed you too," she whispered. "But I'm here now. Last love, right?"

His face broke into a joyous smile, and his arms encircled her, pulling her in for a tight hug, promising himself silently that he'd never let himself ruin this. She hugged him back with all the strength she could muster.

And it was perfect; much like it was when they were young.

* * *

 **Hey everyone! These past few days I've been in heavenly bliss because Caroline's going to New Orleans to visit her friend *happy sigh*. No matter what the future holds, we still made enough noise to be heard. Best ship/fandom ever.**

 **Anyway, I wrote this for the Klaroline Valentine's gift exchange for writerwithagoal (childoftimeandmagic on Tumblr), who requested a drabble based around the song mentioned. I was written for the amazing coveredinthecolors (klausandforbes on Tumblr), and her drabble gave me all the happy feels! Hope you liked it, and I hope I managed to capture the essence of the song. Bye for now not forever! (P.S. no beta, so please forgive mistakes!)**

 **Also! I changed my Tumblr URL, now I'm queencarolinemikaelson - follow if you want!**


	19. Elena's Not So Dull Friend

The thing about Klaus' best friend, Stefan, was that he was purely, completely, and mind-bogglingly whipped. Stefan's girlfriend, Elena, had the poor man wrapped around her precious little finger, which made just-Klaus-and-Stefan time a very rare occurrence.

It wasn't to say Klaus never saw his friend, they went out often, regularly, in fact, but Elena seemed to always want to tag along, making it difficult for Klaus to have man-to-man conversations about manly things. Oh they'd have fun, but the minute Elena dubbed the evening 'boring' she was out. Which mean so was Stefan.

So Klaus had the bright idea of telling Stefan to have Elena invited her friends out to join them for Friday night drinks, as it would keep Elena interested and distracted, while Stefan and Klaus got bro-time.

What was the worst that could happen?

They were seven words Klaus wished he'd never thought.

The first week, Elena had been annoyed Stefan was trying to distract her, so the friend she'd brought was the older Salvatore brother, Damon, who spent the whole night flirting with Elena and every other thing with a pulse and breasts in the bar, and thinking his wisecracks were, indeed, wise.

The second week, she'd invited her aunt and it was fine, for the most part, until her aunt began complaining the bar wasn't 'young and hip' enough, and forced them to go to a club.

The third week, Elena had refused to go out at all, and had made Stefan _promise_ to only be out for a maximum of two hours.

And then it was the fourth week, and Elena had exceeded in being more annoying than any of the other weeks combined, because the two friends she brought along were giggly and, apparently, easily tipsy. One of them was Brony, or Bonnie or something similar, and he hadn't caught the other's name, but he heard Bonnie and Elena refer to her as 'Barbie', 'Care', 'Carebear' and 'Queen' – of all things – names he was positive weren't her _real_ names. Maybe she was a Barbara? Or a Carol? Not that he really cared. He just smiled snidely at her, and went back to talking to Stefan.

To his utmost surprise, however, the night didn't become a complete disaster. Bonnie had been disposed of quickly, as she became _distracted_ by her professor who just _happened_ to be there –

" _Bonnie! So good to see you. I wanted to talk with you privately about a few things, can I get you a drink?"_

– and Stefan and Elena had been revoltingly lovey-dovey after the blonde had been distracted by a parental phone call, and they had bailed soon after because Stefan had 'had a long day' and Elena 'had a headache' – a badly covered excuse for sex, if you asked him.

Which had left Klaus, alone, to wait for the blonde to return from taking her call and inform her it was either just them or they go home. Klaus fervently hoped she went for the 'go home' option, but, it seemed his luck was just as bad as usual, and she had gone for the just them option, citing that she came out for a good night, and by god she was going to have one. Klaus internally groaned, but humoured her, he was a man, after all, and he did have eyes; she was a stunning specimen of womanhood.

To his utmost surprise, however, the night didn't become a complete disaster. Elena's friend she may have been, but the blonde was nothing like the dull brunette in personality, and Klaus found himself becoming more and more entranced by her everything idiosyncrasy.

As the night wore on they'd both drunk a little too much, laughed a little too often, and let their touches linger a little too long, and before they knew it, it was midnight, and her back was pressed into the hard wall in the alley by the bar, moaning out his name as he kissed every part of his body her could.

It had been glorious.

And he had been more than keen to do it again. But they'd separated without trading phone numbers, and he still didn't really have a name for her.

A few days later, Klaus had _casually_ asked Stefan whether Elena was planning on bringing her friends to drinks this coming Friday, and when his friend had informed her that, yes, she was, had inquired whether the blonde was coming.

"What's her name again?" Klaus attempted, over-casualness dripping from his tone.

"As if you didn't scream it while she made you come with her mouth, Mikaelson," Stefan had replied, shrewdly.

After that, the memories of the orgasm he'd had at the mercy of her pretty lips, and the bashfulness he felt at being caught out had him too preoccupied to inquire further.

As Friday night rolled around, Klaus was delighted to see the blonde there, chatting to her friends, and, perhaps, dressed a little racier than she had the previous week. And, like the previous Friday, Bonnie had bailed early, Stefan and Elena merely an hour after, leaving Klaus alone with the mysterious fair-haired creature, and before long he was having the climax of his life by her skilful clutches.

And so began their weekly routine.

It was this routine that found Klaus coming incredibly hard in a bathroom stall for the eighth Friday night in a row. The blonde on her knees in front of him giving his a blow job that would certainly ruin him for any other blow job, ever. Her tongue, by god, was complete magic. She knew every place to lick, suck and swirl and she was extremely intuitive about what he liked and what he didn't like.

"Yes, love, _just like that,_ yes!" Klaus panted out, as his release built within him. "Sweetheart, I'm going to…"

Before he could finish his sentence, his orgasm rocked through him, and he spilt his warm seed into her mouth, the experience being made even better by the small smirk that was playing on her lips and the sultry look in her eyes as she swallowed every last drop.

"That was fun," she murmured, clambering to her feet, while smoothing down her hair and dress in a rather vain attempt to make it look like she hadn't been well-fucked.

"That it was," he replied, a little shakily, still not quite recovered. "Will I see you next week?

"We'll see," she winked.

With that, she was gone from the loos, and Klaus knew he'd spend another week desperately wanting her, with no way of contacting her at all – without alerting Elena to the porkies that was going on between him and her best friend.

xxx

Just as Klaus expected, the week dragged on.

And on.

And he rued the day he was impolite enough to not listen to introductions properly. Surely this was some weird Karma for being a jerk.

On Monday, he came into his hand loudly as thoughts of her twirled around him mind, but he had been unable to grunt her name, much to his own displeasure. He'd tasted her most intimate parts before, but he'd yet to taste her name on his tongue.

On Tuesday, he'd met a woman named Camille, who looked so similar to Elena's friend he wondered whether they were cousins. And then he spent the rest of Tuesday imagining what it would be like to have both blondes in his bed at the same time…

On Wednesday, he'd met up with Stefan for a much-needed midweek piss-up, as he tried to drink away the thoughts of her pretty, perfect lips on his skin. Blessedly Elena hadn't tagged along this time.

On Thursday, he fluked the majority of his work, and hardly listened in any of his staff meetings, too focussed was he on the prospect of tomorrow being Friday.

On Friday, Klaus did about three thousand times more work than he usually did thinking that maybe he'd be able to go home early. Then he was crabby when his plan didn't come into fruition.

All in all, by the time he was sitting in the bar, waiting impatiently for Stefan, Elena, Bonnie and the blonde to arrive, he was well and truly flustered, but determined to actually get her to come home with him that weekend – then maybe she could come in his home.

"Hey you," the blonde temptress smirked, as she sat next to him at the bar, running her hand up his thigh sneakily.

"Hello, love," he responded, trying to keep the desperation from his voice.

"Hey guys!"

They both heard Elena's cheerful voice call from behind them, and the blonde snatched her hand away, smirking some more at Klaus' pout.

"Hi, Elena," she beamed.

"Hey girl! How's your week been?"

With that, Elena and alcohol consumed the blonde's attention.

A few hours later, Klaus' frustration had calmed a little, after having a good chat with his lifelong friend. The good chat was interrupted, however, when Elena positively begged Stefan to dance.

"Come on," she demanded, tugging at the Salvatore's hand intently. "I wanna dance until my feet hurt! Then I want you to take me home."

Obviously Stefan, the weak bastard, caved after about a second leaving Klaus alone with his sweetest torture.

"You wanna dance too?" she asked, biting her lip seductively, as if she needed another reason to look like the sexiest woman alive.

Without saying a word, Klaus grabbed hold of her hand, and pulled her into the mass of bodies. Immediately she pressed herself against him, and lopped her arms around his neck.

Their bodies moved with the music, and Klaus' libido was soaring as she rubbed against him.

"Let me take you home, love," he breathed into her ear, after nipping at it a few times. "Where I can ravish you like the queen you are. No more of this salacious bathroom nonsense."

Much to his chagrin, she giggled, stopped dancing, and fixed her shrewd eyes to his.

"Have you learnt my name yet?" she asked, sardonically.

Klaus paled.

"How did… Stefan that bastard… did he… what?" Klaus stammered, helplessly. God, if his mother could see him now, she'd turn in her grave.

" _Manners, Niklaus, are the only thing one needs to get ahead in this life. You could kill the queen and get away with, as long as you're polite about it,"_ she used to say.

And here he was, blowing his chance with the one girl in years he'd actually liked because he was inattentive and rude.

"Stefan didn't say anything," she reprimanded, giving him a disapproving look. "Look, Klaus," – and he winced that she knew his name – "I may be blonde and pretty, but I'm not an idiot. We've had sex like, upwards of 15 times now, and not once have you moaned my name. It's always 'sweetheart' or 'love' or just a plain 'yes, keep going'. Which is fine for a few random shags in the bathroom. But not for the take home package."

And before Klaus could register what was happening, she was stalking away from him.

xxx

Caroline had sincerely tried to do the whole no strings attached, casual sex thing. She had tried _so hard_ and it had worked a treat for nearly two months. Until Stefan asked how Klaus was.

She'd been taken aback, how would she know, she'd responded, they had hot sex in a myriad of public places, but he'd never once tried to ask for her number, or taken her home, and it was painfully obvious he didn't even know her name.

And she had seriously been okay with it.

Until Stefan had asked her that question, and responded with, "Well, he's crazy about you, Care. You're driving him mad. I just thought you guys were spending more time together, my mistake."

And then she'd made her fatal error.

She'd let her imagination roam free.

She had thought about all the things she'd learned about Klaus when they were chatting, before their marathons. She thought about all the ways she could please him if they only had the privacy. She thought about snuggling next to him and smelling his scent on her sheets.

She thought about what they could be together.

And something that should have been so simple became so much more complex.

She thought she _could_ have done it too. Kept it simple. Kept it sex.

But he just _had_ to ask her to come home with him, just _had_ to take it away from something that was both familiar and easy, into territory she didn't want to enter, when he didn't even know what name to say when he was buried deep within her.

So, as she walked away from him on the dance floor, her confident and too-cool-to-care persona cracked, all the insecurities she fought with on a daily basis spilling forward.

"Sweetheart, wait," she heard from behind her.

She sped towards the door, desperate not to let him see the woman behind the mask, but he was too fast, too intuitive, and he caught her arm just as she was going through it.

"Let me take you to dinner," he said, and intense look in his eyes.

"Seriously?"

"Yes! I fancy you, is that so hard to believe?"

"Umm, yes, seeing as you _don't know my name?_ "

"Well, it is hard when you get called 'Care', 'Carebear', 'captain', 'girl', 'sister', 'baby sheriff', 'blondie', 'barbie', 'rock star', 'queen', 'mary' and I'm confident I've heard Damon refer to you as 'the love child of barbie and Neil Diamond'. Honestly, how is one meant to decipher a name from all that?"

"You're one to talk!" she said, incredulously, though she had a little smirk on her face as she said it. "Mr Nik-Klaus-Niklaus."

"Fair enough," he conceded, feeling it would be mulish to point out that it wasn't exactly the same thing.

He took a step closer to her and, feeling daring, grabbed her hand before she could shy away.

"Let me take you to dinner?"

"When you learn my name," she said, firmly.

Klaus was about to open his mouth to protest further, when –

"GOORRRGGGEOUSSSSS!"

Caroline's hand was ripped from his, as two large male figures squashed her into their arms, all three of them falling ass-over-tit.

Klaus was about to see red, and rip the accosters from her, when he heard laughing muddling in with a few slurred words. He could just make out her brightly shining face, and a stab of jealousy shot threw him.

"Would you two animals get the hell off me!" she exclaimed, while still laughing heartily.

"Now, my sweet, that's not a very polite to talk to your roommates!" one of the voices said – a very familiar voice.

"What can I say, Kol, I'm not polite."

As the three of them scrambled their feet Klaus stood gaping, completely hating the coincidence. In front of him was Kol, Kol's best friend Enzo, and who he only assumed could be the third in his brother's little trio….

" _You_ are Caroline?" Klaus gaped.

Caroline's eyes snapped to him, then at Kol and Enzo, going slack-jawed as she made the connection.

"Oh my god, _you're Nik!_ "

"What's this?" Kol asked, looking between Caroline and Klaus, putting the pieces together and then grimacing. "NO, no no no no no no NO! You described me dirty sexual act you two committed," the brunette whined, scrunching up his face. "I NEED A DRINK OR A THOUSAND AND I NEED THEM YESTERDAY!"

With that, Kol was staggering into the bar, followed closely by a bemused Enzo, leaving an abashed Caroline, and an intrigued Klaus in their wake.

So, _Caroline_ ," Klaus murmured, after a few beats of complete awkward. "Can I take you to dinner now? I know a very good 24 hour Italian restaurant."

Caroline narrowed her eyes, but smiled nonetheless.

"A deal's a deal," she replied, linking her arm through his. "And my dad taught me to never go back on one."

"Well, best be off then. On one condition."

"What is that?"

"Don't describe our times together to Kol anymore."

Caroline laughed, mainly at his confidence that there would be another time, but partly because she knew there would be too.

"Deal."

* * *

 **Heyo! Hope you liked! From an anon prompt on Tumblr.**

 **Tumblr: queencarolinemikaelson**


	20. Time is Running Out

**(P.S. Severe angst warning)**

* * *

There were beauties that forever swirled around Klaus' mind. Beautiful cities, beautiful art, beautiful scenes created by beautiful details. But none of them compared to the beautiful woman he'd once known.

They'd not ended on good terms at all.

But, oh, how they had loved each other.

They had loved long and hard, deeply and irrevocably. They had loved in the wee hours of the morning, when the city around them slept and they should have been, too. They had loved under the blanket of stars, gazing at them like there was no one else in the entire world. They had loved each other in the middle of crowded concerts as they screamed themselves hoarse to their favourite songs.

He loved her for everything she had shown him about himself and the world, he loved her for all the joy she managed to exude, and he loved her for every moment he spent with her.

They had loved each other in the depths of screeched insults and words of hate. They had loved each other as the final door slammed between them. And he, at least, had loved her throughout the 16 years of other women, failed relationships, and hope that one day he would find her again, even if he would deny any and all accusations that he did have a heart.

And he loved her that day, too.

The day she did come back to him.

He loved her more than he could possibly imagine as he stared into her eyes, touched her skin, felt her hair between his fingertips.

He'd dreamed about their reunion many times, and in many ways. He'd imagined every scenario – from running at each other in a crowded airport and gripping each other like a liferaft, publicly declaring their undying love for one another, to sitting quietly next to her on a bench in a zoo, taking her hand, and telling her he missed her.

In the 1001 ways he thought this would go, this never made the list.

Especially since the day started just like any other...

He woke up at the same time, and watched another nameless, faceless woman dress quickly and leave. He smirked to himself because this one had been a dancer, and damn she could contort her body into all sorts of shapes.

He dressed himself, ate a bit of toast, cursed when he put a little too much milk in his coffee. He caught the train to his work, donned his uniform, did paperwork, chatted with his colleagues. The day was completely normal, completely mundane, completely _ordinary_.

He thought the day he saw her again would be extraordinary.

But it wasn't.

It was just another day.

Until it wasn't.

The buzzer rang, signalling visitors to his lonely space. The same voice that barked particulars to him the previous day barked them at him over the intercom again today.

As he always did, he trudged from his office, pulling his gloves on as he went and pulled back the zipper of the large black bag on the gurney, asking perfunctory questions as he went. He merely glanced at the pallid face, not caring about what happened to it, not registering the familiarity of the delicate features.

"Stabbing, apparently," the officer said. "Sad, too. Apparently her father died in a similar way."

Klaus felt the tiniest twinge then, thinking back to _her_ for the briefest of moments and how distraught she had been when she lost her father.

It was that twinge of humanity that spurred him to re-examine the woman's face. Not because he thought it would be her, but merely out of empathy's sake.

That was when he noticed it. That something which hadn't registered when he'd first perceived that flash of blonde. Something he now wished he'd never seen. Something he'd always hoped never, everto see.

It couldn't be.

It _couldn't_ be.

The eyes, once so blue and full of light, now stared blankly at the ceiling. The skin, always so warm and soft, now felt clammy and almost coarse. The hair that once bounced joyously of its own accord, today hung limp and unkempt around her shoulders.

Not her.

 _Never her._

It wasn't supposed to happen this way. He was supposed to see her again. They were supposed to cross paths at some college reunion, or at the wedding of a mutual friend. He was supposed to apologise for the way things ended, then grovel because it took him nearly two decades to do it. He was supposed to find a way back to her; they were supposed to find a way back to each other. They were supposed to make up for all the lost time.

"No," he choked. His breath became harried, unmanageable, and he felt like a vice compressed on his chest.

He shut his eyes tight, willing the images to be nothing more than a terrible, horrible dream. But as the blackness descended upon him, her unseeing, empty eyes opened behind his. The shock and sting of this inescapable memory caused hot tears to bite the corners of his eyes and force their way out, streaming down his face.

In a daze, unable to decipher the calls of ' _what's the matter_ ' and the concerned voices from his colleagues, he staggered to the nearest bathroom. He gripped the edge of the sink until his knuckles became whiter than the porcelain he held, and tried to look at himself in the mirror. When he finally managed it, his reflection became another wasted prayer full of empty eyes from which he never again wanted to see.

It looked like his face, sure. He perceived the high cheek bones, the artfully dishevelled hair, the plump raspberry lips, but a distraught ghost peered back at him now. A shadow. With his face mirroring that of family members' who came to identify the bodies of their loved ones, he looked like a man whose entire world had been ripped away. And hadn't it?

For the first time since he'd finished medical school nearly 20 years ago, he felt bile rise in his throat. His stomach contracted until he doubled over painfully. His heart pumped faster – faster and faster than he'd ever remembered it pumping.

The vomit, the emotions – they forced their way through his body, tearing across every part of his insides until illness overtook him with violence. The acidic taste burned against his tongue and across the back of his throat, but oh, how he wished it would burn more. He welcomed the tiny reprieve it offered. He encouraged it, hoping it would, perhaps, obliterate this agony in his chest.

He sunk down against the bathroom wall, ignoring the pool of sick beside him, and crumpled as precious memories began to claw through his very soul.

He was 20 and a beautiful, bubbly freshman bounced into his dorm and plonked down on his couch.

" _What?"_ she asked, as though there was nothing at all impolite about her behaviour. " _This is my cousin's room. If you have a problem with me, either deal with it or leave._ "

He was teasing her, like a fool, trying to cover his feelings with sarcasm and mockery.

He was taking her on their first date. Swing dancing. A music festival. Remembering how her hips swayed.

He felt so nervous before he grabbed her hand, but he did it anyway. His spirits lifted as she smiled shyly at him, contented, and squeezed it lightly.

He laid in his bed, basking in her beauty, wrapped up in her skin.

He laughed, louder than ever, as the two of them attempted to get dry and warm after the rain drenched them in a sudden downpour.

He received the letter saying he'd been accepted into medical school. She was there by his side, jumping in excitement, kissing him senseless as she drowned him with pride.

She looked at him with eyes full of hurt, asking him why he kept pushing her away. And he repeated again and again that she wouldn't understand, that she couldn't, until one day he blurted it out.

' _Because I love you, Caroline,' he said._

She fell silent and he waited with bated breath. Waiting. Hoping. Never believing until she whispered the three little words back to him.

He watched her board a plane, his heart crying that she had to go, but singing because it was only for five days.

He held her hand as she tried to come to terms with her father's death.

She screamed that he didn't control her.

He yelled that he didn't know her any more.

He listened to her angry ultimatum.

She waited for their time to run out.

He watched the door slam shut.

He waited for her to come back, to burst back through his door.

He fast-forwarded through the many years he'd spent waiting, never once believing they had a ticking clock working against their time together on this earth. Never once considering the possibility that he may be here without her.

And suddenly, the warm memories disappeared. He found himself back on the cold, dank floor of the morgue's bathroom, contemplating a life completely void of hope.

That's where he stayed for the next hour, trying to sift through what he felt. To categorise the thoughts that threatened to consume him entirely, to compartmentalise the bone-crushing grief before it swallowed him whole.

A light knock sounded on the door of his refuge and a person stepped through the frame. To his unseeing eyes, Klaus only registered that it was just another not-Caroline, in a world full of not-Carolines.

"Niklaus," the voice said, tentatively. "One of your colleagues called. Are you okay?"

The voice was familiar, but it wasn't the sweet tinkling one he needed to hear.

"She's dead," he whispered, his voice barely audible above the sounds of life moving on around him. "She's dead."

The elder Mikaelson knelt beside his brother, and tried to decipher the words.

"Who is?"

Unable to speak the name, for fear of making it real, Klaus fished into his pocket for his wallet. Opening it, he withdrew a picture.

The picture was from long ago, from a happier time. The glistening, crystal clear water, and pristine white sand painted a perfect background for the smiling, carefree couple in the picture. This happy couple still did not know that in less than a year their engagement would be called off, that their constant companionship would dissolve into estrangement separated by states.

Elijah looked at the photo, and realised the meaning of many things. He realised why his brother never seemed to be able to settle on any woman longer than a month. He realised why his brother's house remained devoid of any personal touches. He realised why his brother had been reduced to this broken shell.

"I love her, Elijah," Klaus croaked, the uncharacteristic vulnerability in his voice breaking Elijah's heart. "And now I'll never get to tell her again."

The brown-haired Mikaelson put his arm around his brother, and the blonde buried his face into the embrace, for once letting himself be comforted by someone else, knowing that living with his grief meant never living at all.

xxx

A good hour passed before he could stand again, and a few more before he found the courage to face her again. But he knew he had to do it.

He couldn't live with himself without seeing her face one last time. And it would be better this time. He would be prepared. He would be ready.

Numb and morose, he entered the room housed with body-sized refrigerators and shivered. But not from cold. Rather from the terror of what he needed to do.

With the heaviest of hearts, he pulled back the unforgiving steel door, and yanked out the cold tray she rested on. He nearly lost it again. His only saving grace was that he no longer had to see her lifeless eyes, for someone had closed them.

Even in this state, even in death, she was beautiful.

He breathed in sharply as he took her hand, and almost screamed that her frigid fingers didn't curl around his.

"There were so many things we left unsaid, Caroline," he said, his words echoing through the merciless room. "Why do I never get to tell you I love you more than I let on?"

" _It's too late, Nik._ " The words from their last meeting rang through his mind, pounding at his insides. He knew it was too late.

Unable to say anything else, he dropped her hand roughly and slid the tray back into the freezing tomb. Willing the tears burning at his eyes to not fall. He stormed away.

Why did it have to be her. _Why?_ What cruel trick of fate led her back to his side too late? Why couldn't it have been him on that slab instead of her? That place wasn't meant for people like her. It was cold and dark. It was full of sadness and tears. It wasn't warm or light or full of her joyous laughter.

He stumbled blindly into the hallway as the endless _what ifs_ crushed him. His unseeing eye crashed him headlong into a small body.

"Ouch! God, watch where you're going!" the light feminine voice snapped.

The voice crashed through his ears, and his eyes refocused on the girl in front of him.

She looked no older than 16 and had blonde curls that fell around her face with bright eyes, an all-too-familiar shade of blue. The only feature that differed from her mother's was the dimples that lined her cheeks as she stubbornly jutted-out her chin. Yet, even through the harsh words and pigheadedness, he still saw fear written all over her young face.

She looked woefully out of place amongst the cold steel and glass. For some reason, she looked like a frolic in the green pastures under the light of the warm sun kind of girl.

Without thinking, Klaus grabbed the girl's shoulders, his eyes flicking over every part of her face, trying to discern a difference. Trying to find some indicator that the girl who now stood before him wasn't now motherless. He didn't know whether he could stomach watching such an innocent child gaze upon the lifeless body of her perfect mother.

"What are you doing?" she asked indignantly, trying to wriggle free from his grasp.

He couldn't let go, but he also couldn't breathe. Or speak.

"Elizabeth Esther Forbes, where the hell have you gone?"

Klaus jumped back from the child as though he was burned. That voice that called down the hallway sounded familiar.

"I told you to stay with me while I signed us in!"

The man looked harried, worn, and Klaus knew he must have been wearing a similar expression. The years had been kind to his old roommate, for he still managed to retain his boyish look and a well-built physique.

They had been friends – good friends – once upon a time, but when he'd parted ways with Caroline, he couldn't bring himself to keep in touch with her cousin.

The brunette's eyes hadn't found Klaus yet, too fixed as they were on the young blonde between them.

"Who's this idiot and why is he looking at me like he's seen a ghost?" she spat brashly.

He nearly laughed. Just like her mother, using hostility and sarcasm to cover her true emotions.

Enzo frowned as his eyes finally found Klaus. He tried to form some semblance of a civil face, but he grimaced instead.

"I'm so sorry, Enzo."

He choked on the words because he wanted people to pity him. But he knew Enzo would be just as distraught.

"Mikaelson," the other man gritted out. "I see you got everything you wanted from life."

He looked around condescendingly, letting out a derisive laugh. He couldn't help but recall the pieces of Caroline he had to pick up and glue back together once Klaus waltzed out of her life.

"I suppose you would think that," Klaus replied. There was no fight or malice in his voice; he couldn't muster it. "I'll leave you both to it."

Klaus placed a hand on the girl's shoulder and squeezed it, before turning to go.

"You don't have to do this, Lizzie," he heard Enzo say to the girl, who still looked stubbornly okay with the situation.

Klaus couldn't blame her; the longer you pretended everything was okay, the longer you staved off the pain.

"Who was that man?" she asked as Klaus disappeared through the door.

"That," Enzo said, with a heavy sigh, "was the epic love of your mother's life."

The girl's composure cracked for a moment, and she replaced her cool mask with a look of distraught.

"He's my dad, isn't he?" she asked, her voice catching.

Enzo's heart broke for the child in this moment.

It broke for all the moments Caroline would never have with her child. It broke for all the nights Caroline cried herself to sleep missing Klaus. It broke for the terrible look on Klaus' face knowing he'd done the same thing in nights without her. It broke for Lizzie who'd finally met her father just like she'd always dreamed, only for it to happen on the day she lost her mother. It broke with the realization that he could no longer call on his best friend. But most of all, it broke because Caroline was dead...and there was nothing anyone could do.

"He is, gorgeous," he answered, knowing the lie would hurt her more.

"I see."

He found himself exempt from further questions as someone informed them that it was time for the formal identification

"You really don't have to do this," Enzo reiterated, desperately trying to save her from being haunted by that vision for the rest of her life.

"Yes, I do," she stated. "I couldn't live with if I didn't know for sure."

xxx

The funeral took place two weeks later in Caroline's hometown. She'd be buried next to her mother.

The small church was packed, so full that there was no way of counting everyone in the crowd. Enzo spoke. Elizabeth sang. People cried. Stories were shared. Klaus slipped out the back before he needed to answer any questions.

He didn't speak to anyone until after midnight, when the bottle of bourbon between his fingers was half empty and the cold winter night raged around him, the stone with the her name on it almost unreadable.

"Move over," a voice said.

He jumped, and in his half-drunken stupor, Klaus thought she had somehow come back to him. But as he focussed his eyes on the figure, he realised it was Caroline's daughter. He thought he'd be disappointed, but found that Elizabeth seemed to be a pretty good replacement.

He shuffled over, and she sat next to him. Neither of them said anything for what seemed like hours, both slowly freezing as they tried to come to terms with the obvious. Being the mess that he was, he offered her the bottle and she took from it gratefully, loving the way it burned down her throat.

"I guess I shouldn't have done that," Klaus said absently. "You being a teenager and everything."

She said nothing, just laughed bitterly and took another sip.

Silence lapsed between them again, and Klaus wondered whether he should mention the elephant poised so blatantly between them.

"So, your middle name is Esther?" he asked after a few more moments.

"Yep," she said, popping the 'p' in the same her mother used to do. "After my other grandmother apparently."

"Well, shit," Klaus said, not very eloquently. "I guess that makes me your dad then…"

"Yep," she repeated.

He'd known since the day he met her, or he'd assumed. If the dimples hadn't given it away, her middle name had. But having it confirmed was something else.

He gulped down three large mouthfuls of the drink before asking, shakily, "What now?"

"More bourbon."

Klaus wordlessly passed the bottle back to her. They both shared a small smile at the kinship of the moment, and at the fact that Caroline would fly off the handle if she were there.

"I didn't know, you know."

"Yeah, I know. Mom told me the story last year."

"I see."

"Did you love her?"

"I did."

"Do you still?"

As he gave the smallest of nods, the girl shifted closer to him. A tear trailed down her face.

The night swirled around them, beautiful in its rugged simplicity as the newly found father and daughter sat in the middle of it, trying to wrap their heads around the twist and turn of their lives.

Their hearts wouldn't stop screaming, but there were no words that could be spoken to change the past.

He took her hand, and squeezed it.

"How did it come to this, hey?"

* * *

 **Hope you liked it. Was inspired by the song was Time is Running Out by Muse from when I asked for song prompts on my Tumblr (queencarolinemikaelson).**


	21. The Moon, the Booze and the Man

When asked why she was in the emergency department with a concussion, and needing ten stitches, that busy Friday night, Caroline swore, as black and blue as the bruises on the back of her head, it wasn't her fault.

It wasn't her fault that it was a full moon, and she tended to get in a bit of a tizzy around that time of the month. That was science's fault.

Nor was it her fault she inherited her father's lovely trait of getting handsy while drinking. The margaritas went straight to her head, the terrible ideas which she wouldn't entertain whilst sober somehow become great ones, and the feeling of other people's skin underneath hers become a lure so strong that she can't find it in herself to resist.

And it _really_ wasn't her fault that _he_ happened to show up at her best friend's birthday party _after_ she had already started with the cocktails.

She _knew_ he had a crush on her, any woman with half a brain and some semblance of a grasp on flirting knew he was coming onto her 95% of the time. She wasn't sure if he knew she knew… but it made her feel special that notorious asshole _Klaus Mikaelson_ had a thing for _her_ , Caroline Forbes, neurotic control freak extraordinaire.

And, because it made her tummy tingle and smile widen, she played along. She flirted back, twirled her hair, chewed her lip, and teased him mercilessly, but she would never let it go any further. He wasn't her type, and that was final, thank you very much.

Welll… she wouldn't let it go any further until that day… when the alcohol was already clouding her brain and impairing her judgement.

"Caroline, I asked you _what happened_ not whose fault it was?" Katherine asked her through the phone, on Saturday night as Caroline settled in her own bed her head still throbbing, and her stitches still stinging.

"Fine, Kat, I'll tell you the story. But it wasn't my fault!"

xxx

" _Klaus!" Caroline shrieked, as she noticed him enter. Jumping to her feet and threw her arms around his neck, breaking her no-touchy-the-hot-brit rule, knowing it would drive him – and her – a little crazy. "I didn't know you know my bestest pal, Enzo!"_

 _A shocked expression on his face as Caroline pulled away, he cleared his throat uncomfortably and said, "I don't."_

" _Why are you here then?" she asked, confused, her buzzing brain not putting two and two together as an extremely attractive woman wrapped an arm around his waist._

" _He's here because he's with me," the newcomer snapped, apparently not enjoying the attention Klaus was giving to the blonde distraction._

" _Yes, sweetheart," Klaus replied, sheepishly. "This is Halle, she is in Enzo's, history class."_

 _Caroline smirked at the other girl's flinch._

" _Oh yes, Halle," Caroline drawled, knowing full well it was Hayley. "I think I met you after a walk of shame from here a couple of weeks back. Tell me, is it the accent that does it for you? Or the piles of cash attached to them?"_

 _The other girl began to snarl, but was cut off by more people arriving with a keg, a feat that managed to distract Caroline enough, because she had promised the birthday boy she would do a keg stand for him._

xxx

"You injured yourself in a keg stand, Caroline? You're like a wizard with keg stands?"

"Oh please, Kat, I'm the best at keg stands, that's not why I ended up at the hospital."

"Oh, good. Continue, but cut to the chase, I haven't got all day."

xxx

" _Come on, Klaus!" Caroline cajoled. "You know I'm just_ dying _to see your biceps. Give me a look!"_

 _Another point on Caroline's growing list of less than stellar ideas that night was trying to get Klaus to take his shirt off. This idea was preceded by another terrible idea, which was making a bet with Enzo that her 'biggest fan' – as Enzo had dubbed Klaus – would do anything to impress her, even if it meant taking his shirt off in the chilly November weather, just because Caroline asked him to. Caroline took those odds, smugly._

" _Sweetheart, you've never made any attempts at getting me naked before. Although I wouldn't –_

xxx

"Caroline! Stop right there, I do _not_ need to hear about your stupid battle of wills with Klaus. Get to the point already! I have places to be!"

"Fine."

xxx

" _Give me a piggyback," Caroline demanded._

" _I beg your pardon?"_

" _I want some fresh air, it's stuffy up here. But I also don't want to walk there, because my legs feel like jelly. And I just want a piggyback. Give me one. Now."_

" _That's not very polite, love."_

" _Fine! Give me a piggyback, Klaus."_

 _Klaus relented. Of course he did. Anything to have Caroline's perfect body pressed against his. He squatted down in front of her, and she clambered on, but not before she ran her soft hands over the skin of his back. It really was just too good an opportunity to pass up. And she was glad she didn't, beer-goggles or not, the man was H.O.T._

 _But that wasn't the point._

 _A little distracted by the feeling of Caroline's hands caressing his skin, Klaus got to his feet, an unsteady wobble quaking through them both, which Klaus was delighted to discover made his precious cargo cling to him tighter than before._

 _He began moving towards the great outdoors, but not quick enough for Caroline's liking apparently because she let out a pouty "Faster"._

 _Klaus shuddered. Then gulped. His imagination didn't need that kind of fodder right now. He needed to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other. She wouldn't notice anyway. Surely. She was hammered._

" _Klaus, faster," she moaned into his ear._

 _She had noticed._

" _Caroline, come on," he said, sounding somewhat strangled._

" _Klaus please," she said, her mouth ghosting over his ear. "I need you to go faster."_

 _He picked up his pace a little, but was unable to stop his mind from turning her words into his favourite fantasy of her._

" _Klaus, yes, that's right. Faster."_

 _The combination of her extremely breathy voice, and the fact she was running her hands along his bare skin was a little too much for him and he lost his balance._

 _Unfortunately for him, this happened at the top of the stairs, and both piggybacker and passenger toppled down the unforgiving steps until they both landed sprawled at the bottom._

 _While a little disorientated and ego-bruised, Klaus was fine._

 _Caroline, however, was not._

 _There was blood._

xxx

"Jesus, Caroline, this happened because you were a coquet asshole to a guy who has a crush on you? Are you serious?"

"Well how was I to know there was a stairwell right there! And I was just teasing at the time! _And_ I told you it wasn't my fault it was…"

"The moon, the booze and the man, yeah I got it."

"Thank you."

"Are you sure you're going to be okay? I know you've been discharged but aren't concussed people supposed to stay awake."

"Yeah, but I'll be fine."

"I can come over and…"

"I said I'll be fine, Kat. I've got it covered."

"Urgh, whatever. But if you die, that _will_ be your fault. No dodging the blame on that one. Bye."

"Bye!"

Caroline placed the phone on her bedside table, before rolling back to kiss her version of 'got it covered' lying in bed next to her.

"Such a charming picture you paint of me, sweetheart."

"Whatever, Klaus. It totally was your fault."

"Hardly."

"Shut up. Now can we get back to you making it up to me?"

* * *

 **Hi-ho-hi-ho (it's off to work we go!)**

 **This is from an anon prompt I received on my Tumblr (queencarolinemikaelson). Hopefully you liked! HAPPY ALMOST WEEKENDS!**


	22. The Penis Game

Physics was kicking her up the –

 _"Penis."_

– ass.

The library was quiet but for a small –

 _"Penis."_

– group of males over by the window.

Caroline ground her teeth, reading over her notes, desperately trying to ignore the growing –

 _"Penis_."

– volume.

"So, times that by the gravity on earth…" she muttered to herself, blocking out the childish giggling from the others in the library. "And I should get the –"

 _"Penis."_

"– _right answer."_

She was trying her very hardest not to look over at the immature bunch of boys playing the penis game. They were seniors _in college_ , for heavens' sake, why did they _still_ find it so hilarious?

Losing her patience, she threw a glare over at the table, and was exasperated – and unsurprised – to see _him_ amongst the group. He was the biggest –

" _Penis._ "

– _asshole_ of them all.

Klaus Freaking Mikaelson.

They were in the same sexology class, which she did as an elective to get away from the rigidness of physics for a while. It was a really interesting unit, and he definitely knew what he was talking about but he was an egotistical jerk. That being said, he _was_ stupidly handsome… but she would never think about his –

" _Penis._ "

– Not his penis, _dammit,_ she his _dateability._

Caroline focused her attention back on her work, ignoring the feeling of his eyes still on her, and the tingling feeling she always seemed to get when his –

" _Penis."_

– EYES, god dammit, when his _eyes_ locked with hers.

A few minutes passed, and she managed to keep her mind solely on her work, but she could still hear the hushed –

" _Penis_."

– every now and then.

It was pathetic, really. They'd been at it for fifteen minutes, and none of them had gotten above a loud whisper.

But, over the coming minutes, they seemed to grow bored of their little game, much to Caroline's relief. She was solving an incredibly complex equation, and it required all her brain power.

She was typing the very last – very long – string of numbers into her calculator, and was about to press the equals sign when –

" _Penis._ "

"Shit!" she hissed, hitting the clear sign instead, losing the entire calculation.

She could have screamed.

And decided she would.

Caroline slammed her things down, throwing her chair back, violently, and rose to her feet, stalking the few tables over to the obvious losers who still thought the penis game was appropriate.

She fixed the group with her most horrible glare, and screeched, at the top of her lungs, "PENIS! FOR CHRIST'S SAKE, _PENIS!_ Now can you quit it with the stupid game, some of us are trying to study!"

She was about to turn on her heel to stomp back to her table – and try to ignore the reproachful stares of the rest of the library – when Klaus flicked his eyebrows at her.

"I didn't know you were so obsessed with my penis, love," he smirked, leaning back on his chair, as his cronies giggled around him.

She threw her hands in the air and screeched, incoherently, and stalked away from them, her cheeks a violent red colour.

But she didn't mind, because twenty minutes past, and the 'p' word, was not uttered at at all.

Well, she didn't mind, until her mind started wandering to the 'p' word, and more importantly the 'p' that belonged to a certain blonde, who was still staring at her.

Caroline groaned again, and slammed her things down, for the second time that hour. She wasn't going to get _any_ work done with Klaus Mikaelson's penis on her mind. She aggressively packed up her things, and began to sulkily stalk towards the library door.

No sooner was she through it, when she heard a rustle from behind her. Instinctively knowing who it was, Caroline huffed, and walked a little faster.

"Sweetheart," he said, hurrying to catch up. "Let's have dinner."

Caroline almost choked.

"You _cannot_ be serious?" she said, exasperatedly.

"I am very serious."

"Never in a million years," she spat, though the thought of his penis was still fresh in her mind.

"Come on, Caroline! Take a chance! Get to know me."

Caroline stopped walking and fixed him with a calculating stare.

"I dare you."

"Fine, but only one."

"We'll see, love. I can be quite charming, you know."

He grinned at her, and she rolled her eyes, secretly a little bit thrilled that maybe she would be able to get to know his penis after all.

* * *

 **If you're a Tumblr user (I'm queencarolinemikaelson over there) you'll know that it's day one of klarolineauweek! And this is my first drabble for a week. It's short, I guess, and pretty immature, but I had fun writing it! There'll be at least two more for today! I hope you enjoy!**


	23. I Like Cereal

Could you maybe do a drabble where Caroline and Klaus argue about what goes in the bowl first, milk or cereal?:)

xxx

Klaus woke early that morning, feeling extremely content. He let his head fall the the left, so as better to see the beautiful blonde peacefully sleeping on his soft sheets.

She had been the first woman in many years he pursued, and, boy, she hadn't made it easy. She hadn't played hard to get, she just seemed genuinely immune to his charms. In the beginning, at least.

But he had worn her down, and now she was sleeping in his bed for the fourth time that week, for the third week in a row.

She was spectacular.

Klaus let himself gaze upon her angelic face for a few more moments, before he slowly extracted himself from the comfort of his bed.

After their first night together, Klaus had made her scrambled eggs, and brought them to her in bed, which had, seemingly set a precedent, and he had brought her breakfast every time they woke up together in his bed. And she would offer him the same treatment when they were at hers.

But that morning, however, as Klaus stumbled dreamily into his kitchen, he realised the combination of his busy week and preoccupation with a certain blonde, meant his food stocks were severely depleted.

He scratched his head, before dragging a hand down over his face. He didn't want to let this be the first morning she wasn't treated like royalty.

Sighing, he reached into his pantry and pulled out all the half full boxes of cereal her kept on hand – cereal was his painting inspiration food, so there were many of them. He then retrieved the milk, two bowls, two spoons, and made coffees for them both, arranging it all pretty on a tray, before he made his way back to his room.

Stepping back through the door, he was delighted to see her bright eyes twinkling back at him, a beautiful smile gracing her lips.

"Morning, sweetheart," he said, softly.

"Hey you," she replied, as he sat himself beside her on the bed. "That's quite the array of cereals."

"I like cereal."

"I see that."

"Which would you like?"

"That one!" she said, tapping the box of Corn Flakes happily, pecking her lips to Klaus' as she did so.

He smiled, and complied with her wishes, unstacking a bowl, and preceding to pour the delicious golden flakes in.

"Uhh… what are you doing?" Caroline frowned.

"Making you cereal?" Klaus said, questioningly.

"Is this like a British thing?" she asked.

"Is what a British thing?" he responded, confused.

"The whole putting the cereal into the bowl first thing?"

"I don't think so… It's just how you do it?" Klaus said, looking at her like she was crazy.

"That's so _not_ how you do it!" Caroline cried. "Everyone with half a brain knows the _milk_ goes in first, not the cereal."

"Caroline, I assure you I have my whole brain. And I think I know how cereal works, I make enough of it."

Caroline frowned some more, not buying it.

"I have never, in _my life_ ,seen _anyone_ put the cereal in the bowl before the milk!"

"Well, _I_ have never seen anyone do it your way!"

"You're actually insane, Klaus! Everyone does!"

Klaus could see she was becoming more and more frustrated with every passing second. And he couldn't help the chuckle that bubbled through his lips.

"You find this funny?"

"No, sorry, love."

But his words were at odds with the amount of mirth in his voice.

"It's wrong, Klaus, just _wrong_! Milk goes in first _then_ cereal! How do you not know this!"

Her face was contorting, and Klaus could swear he saw tears in her eyes as her frustration at him grew.

"Sweetheart, why are you getting so worked up over this? It's just a difference in habit."

"Because you can't put the cereal in first!"

"Why not?"

"Because you _can't_!"

"And why _can't_ I?"

"Because what if one day you get mad at me for making your cereal wrong and then leave me! I couldn't handle it because I lo–"

Caroline's eyes went wide, her cheeks flushed and she clamped her hand over her mouth.

They both stared at each other for long intense moments.

Klaus knew what she was about to say, but all his words were becoming stuck in his throat as he contemplated that Caroline Forbes loved him, and was so terrified of losing him, that she would get worked up about how to correctly prepare cereal.

"Klaus… I didn't… I mean…"

But she was cut off as Klaus' mouth clamped on hers, as he seemed to unstick from his stupor.

His mouth moved desperately on hers, trying to convey all the things he felt for her in one single kiss.

He was moving closer to her, dying to be as physically close to her as possible when suddenly there was a loud crunch, followed closely by the unmistakeable sound of cereal slipping from its box, as crushed cornflakes flooded the bed.

The young couple laughed heartily at the ridiculousness of their current situation.

"Oh, I love you, Caroline Forbes," he said, with so much meaning in his voice, it was Caroline's turn to be rendered speechless. "You bring so much joy to my life."

"I love you too," she said through the widest grin she'd ever done.

He leaned over to kiss her passionately, the breakfast and argument totally forgotten – well, almost forgotten, except for when they were interrupted by the crunch of the cornflakes that still blanketed the bed.

* * *

 **Drabble two from today's AU week theme! Needless to say these are unbetaed please forgive any mistakes. :) :) Happy AU week!**


	24. 318

_Prompt: "You're my neighbour and you are stealing my wifi to watch porn and can you not?"_

xxx

She'd never really been that tech savvy. She struggled with installing software, working out the remote on her air conditioner, even with things as rudimentary as hooking up her DVD player to her TV.

Which was why, on her second day in 317, she hired a man to connect her internet rather than battle through trying to do it herself.

Although, now she sort of wished he had. The man doing the internet connecting leered at her at every chance she got and when he spoke to her, his eyes never left her breasts.

"That's all done there for you, Miss," he said, slimily. "Do you need help changing the password."

"Nope, not at all!" Caroline said, too fast, and without thinking. "Thanks for your help, bye now!"

She had rushed him from her house and was sitting enjoying using her internet before she realised she didn't actually know how to change the password… which had been left on its default.

Caroline shrugged it off.

No one would guess that her password was, in fact, 'password'.

xxx

"Seriously!" she shrieked, as she noted that, once again, there was a a long list of porn sites visited on her internet history.

How could one person watch so much porn? She'd only been living there four weeks, and yet every morning Caroline woke up to at least ten different porn sites in her internet history.

She'd subtly been surveying the four other people who lived on her floor, trying to workout which one it was so she could confront them without making herself look like an idiot.

She was pretty sure it wasn't Mrs Chidgzey, the lady at number 314. She was a kind old thing, but completely off her rocker, and could hardly work out her key to her door, let alone internet porn.

Caroline would also didn't think it could be Sam, in 315, because while Caroline had daydreamed about swimming with him without her bathing suit on more than once, he seemed to have a girlfriend – Ruby? Or maybe Remi? – who he frequently enjoyed _very_ loud sex with.

She also didn't think it would be the family in 316. Alaric, Jo and their twin daughters were the picture of a perfect, happy, nuclear family, and Caroline assumed internet porn wasn't part of that idyllic scene.

Caroline _knew_ it was 317, as that was her.

Which left 318.

It made sense if it was next door, as that would be the the best place for primo connection. But the trouble was, Caroline had never met her neighbour. Nor had she even caught a glimpse of whomever it was next door.

The person must either be a super hermit, or have a really erratic schedule – or both – for Caroline to completely miss him or her. Caroline was A+ at sneakily stalking people and she'd been throwing her top game into trying to sneak a peak at her elusive neighbour.

But that morning, she decided enough porn was enough. She was had just baked an incredibly delectable batch of pumpkin scones, and damn waiting, she was going to kick fate up the ass and find her porny internet stealer once and for all.

Caroline dressed nicely, gathered up the scones and tucked them neatly into a wicker basket, complete with a little doily underneath them, put on her best pageant girl smile and marched over to 318.

She knocked, ready to put into action the plan she had carefully cultivated over the last ten minutes. And then _he_ opened the door.

And her plan went out the window.

"YOU!" she screeched.

"Well, well, well, Little Caroline Forbes," he smirked, that delicious accent of his doing the same thing to the apex of her thighs as it had done back in college. "Long time no see."

"There's a good reason for that!" Caroline bit out, the good reason being that, while they both 'hated' each other's guts, they also couldn't keep their hands off each other.

"I do recall you yelling that I was a selfish, no good pig the last time we spoke," he grinned, impishly.

"You deserved that," she said, indignantly.

"I most likely did. Now, to what do I owe the pleasure, sweetheart."

"You know I hate those stupid petnames, _Niklaus_ ," she drawled, and was pleased to see he still flinched when she used his full name.

"Fine, to what do I owe the pleasure, Caroline?" he reprased, that look in his eye again. The one Caroline could never quite find it in herself to resist. The one that always preceded the greatest sex stories of her life. The one that pretty much ruined her for all other men.

She gulped.

"Porn," she said, stupidly, as she was pulling her mind from the delicious memories.

"Porn, love?" he asked, an infuriatingly smug smirk playing on his lips. "Would you like to re-enact our preferred activities from our college days?"

"Shut up! That's not what I was… I would never want… You? No! Not at all! You've been using my internet to watch porn, can you not?" she rambled, as she turned a lovely shade of pink.

"Had I known it was you who now occupied 317, I wouldn't have needed the porn," he said, leaning on his doorjamb, looking like he was enjoying himself far too much, the annoyingly superior and and attractive look he perfected in college gracing his handsome face.

"That's awfully presumptuous of you, Klaus," she shot back.

"I never had trouble convincing you before. Have dinner with me."

"What?"

"Dinner. You, me, probably Thai food, if I remember your take out preferences correctly."

"I am never having dinner with you ever again, not after last time."

"Come now, sweetheart, it wasn't that bad. Despite our differences, we certainly had good times," he said, grinning.

"No we did not," she replied, though the smile that was spreading across her face as she thought fondly on their times together said otherwise.

"Let me buy you dinner to make up for it then."

"Fine," she agreed, in a rare yolo moment – as Katherine liked to call them. "But you better be willing to pay for the good Thai from that real authentic place downtown."

"As the lady wishes."

"Good," she said, hiding the thrilled smile under layers of bravado.

"Good."

* * *

 **Hey! For adversaries day of AU week (which was yesterday...) Go read my new fic called Of the Same Coin - it's a Klaroline/X-Men crossover. :3 Anyway! Hope you're having a nice evening! ALso, on the milk/cereal drabble, I realised some context was needed... I did a Tumblr ask box game where one of the questions was 'Do you put the milk or cereal in the bowl first' and someone then prompted me to write a drabble where Klaroline argue about that topic. Sorry if that was confusing. I will endevour to put the prompt/whatever at the top of each drabble from now on. :) Thanks for baring with me!**


	25. Definitely Worth It

_PROMPT: "My little siblings LOVE going to this trashy pizzeria so I pass the time by beating all the high scores on every single arcade game they have but then one day someone beat all of my high scores by exactly 100 points and I KNOW it's the same person because they used the same fucking name on the scoreboards each time my pride is on the line who the hell did this I will fight them." (NOT really safe for work...)_

xxx

Klaus' shoulders slumped as he stared at the nasty little digits flashing in front of his eyes, and he had a fleeting moment of existential crisis when he pondered how the hell he had ended up caring so much about 100 points on an arcade game.

Honestly, when his mother had asked – demanded – that he play responsible adult over the summer, he had hit the roof. He lived on the other side of the country from them for a _reason_. It had been bad enough when they had moved over from the UK, and he had to live on the same continent again. But to live with his three younger siblings, in a tiny town he'd never been to, and be a guardian for _three months_? When they weren't even _at school_?

Too much.

But it had only taken him a week back in their presence to realise how much he'd missed Kol, Rebekah and Henrik. And without the tyranny of their wicked father breathing down his neck, Klaus was actually having a pleasant time.

He wasn't sure why his parents had moved to _rural Virginia_ , when their deep pockets could have afforded a large property _anywhere_. But the country air was different somehow, fresher, and the soft peace of the place did wonders for Klaus' muse. Plus, he enjoyed being able to trust that his siblings wouldn't be mugged if they were walking on the streets after dark. All in all, Mystic Falls was nice. Even if he was a little starved for, ahem, _entertainment_ …

The worst part about the whole place was, however, the complete lack of fast food outlets. Klaus had never been much of a chef, but now he was supposed to make sure his siblings were fed at least three meals a day? And he was supposed to do this without the help of take out?

Luckily for him, his siblings didn't much care for variety, and the one take away store in the town was enough to keep them fed a couple of times a week.

Unfortunately for Klaus, it was super greasy pizza parlour. And super greasy was a food Klaus categorically _refused_ to put in his body – because hello? He was a babe for a reason?

So, while his siblings ate their wait in terrible deep-fried saturated fats, Klaus took himself across the road for a few a little alone time.

The Arcade.

When Klaus first started playing the games, he was pretty rubbish. But soon enough his nimble fingers and sharp mind had overridden every single high score on every game in the store, bar one.

Which was what he went into do that day, vanquish the very last game in the place, and becoming the reigning champ.

"Yes!" he said, triumphantly, as ' _NEW HIGH SCORE'_ message flashed on the screen.

"Excuse me, Sir," Henrik asked Bill, the owner. "Does Nik get an award or something for holding all the high scores?"

Bill smiled at the boy, then looked over at Klaus.

"Had you beaten it yesterday, the answer would have been yes," the man replied. "But someone has actually beaten your scores on those four machines since you were here on Tuesday."

Now, Klaus wasn't one for being petty and competitive – okay, maybe he totally was – but he stalked over to the machines Bill had gestured to. They were four of the toughest games, and someone – who called themselves 'QueenBarbie', how juvenile – had beaten his scores?

"Jesus-bloody-H-Christ!"

"Come on, Nik. It's not that bad."

"It _is_ that bad, Rebekah. 100 bloody points."

Bill gave Klaus a knowing, and slightly sympathetic, smile, as Klaus silently fumed. He knew he shouldn't be _so_ invested in his winning streak. But he was, so sue him for having first world problems.

He grumpily slouched from the building, his siblings following like a flock of encouraging sheep behind him.

He had had his game face on now, he would beat QueenBarbie if it was the last thing he did.

xxx

It was a few days later when Klaus skulked his way into the Arcade again. His siblings were eating their flat-bread-based-fatty-death-food across the road, so Klaus guessed he'd have about an hour until they were done. Bill was behind the counter, and a few other patrons milled around playing some games.

"Hello there, Klaus," Bill said. "You may not be happy with your leaderboard stats."

Klaus frowned, and peered at the nearest screen. A game that Klaus had been the champion of since his third visit to the arcade was now topped by QueenBarbie.

By 100 points.

Klaus angrily tramped over to other machines, and much to his chagrin, Klaus found that she was top of nearly half the games in the store.

 _By 100 bloody points._

"How? When?" Klaus spluttered.

"I'm not sure, but –"

But Bill was cut off when Kol burst through the doors.

"Nik! Henrik has just thrown up all over Rebekah who is now crying. I think we better go."

"Bloody pizza, bloody scores, bloody siblings," Klaus muttered. He was half way out the door when he turned back to Bill and asked quickly, "What are your opening hours?"

"Open at 10am every morning, and close at 10pm every night."

"Thanks."

And with that Klaus was gone to sort out his sick brother and sulking sister.

xxx

Klaus had been in Mystic Falls eight weeks, when something completely unprecedented happened.

He had the entire weekend, from Friday evening to Monday morning, completely to himself.

Kol and his friend Jeremy were going out to Jeremy's family's lake house for a few nights. Rebekah was on a cheerleading camp. And Henrik was in Richmond staying with their oldest brother Finn.

It was his first free Friday night in a long time and he didn't quite know what to do with himself. If he was back at college, Klaus would have spent Friday night at a bar, charming and bedding someone gorgeous. For a moment, entertained the idea of going to the Mystic Grill and trying him luck with his charms there. But most of the gorgeous people in Mystic Falls were either in high school – jailbait (or worse, Rebekah's friends) – or parents – taken (or worse, single and looking to 'settle down').

Klaus thought about doing other things, stay at home, go to the gym, go to the grill and have a drink by himself. But he knew, even before he started mentally listing when he _could_ do, that he would end up at the Arcade.

QueenBarbie had steadily taken over all his high scores over the past few weeks, no matter how valiantly Klaus tried to protect his crown. But he didn't know _how_. He had never seen a female in there, apart from Rebekah, and Klaus assumed QueenBarbie wasn't a man.

Anyway, Klaus decided he'd use his first free night in two months putting in some serious time at the arcade.

The walk over there was pleasant enough, the summer air warm, but not too warm, the streets full of people, but not too full. His mind was on the prize, completely focused on his mission at hand and then he opened the door of the arcade… And he was pretty sure his mind short circuited.

Behind the counter was not the middle aged man that usually was there, dressed in his 'The Arcade' polo shirt and dorky boardshorts.

Nope.

Today there was a girl.

An insanely beautiful girl.

An insanely beautiful girl dressed in a 'The Arcade' polo shirt that was very similar to Bill's, but somehow looked absolutely outstanding on her, the way it stretched over her ample breasts, and her blonde bouncy hair curled over her shoulders at a fantastic contrast to the navy blue of the shirt. The outfit was coupled with a pair of teeny tiny denim shorts, that were surely far too short to be considered 'pants'. Not that he was complaining, as they showed of long, creamy, perfectly toned legs.

Klaus was reasonably confident he'd had a very heated argument with his sister about wearing shorts _that_ short. But somehow they looked enticing and sexy on Bill's replacement, where on Rebekah, they had looked disturbingly inappropriate.

"Well, you're not Bill," Klaus said, stupidly, much to the amusement of the other patrons, causing the girl to look over at him, unimpressed.

"And you're _observant_ ," she shot back, dryly, as she turned away from him to continue working.

Klaus moved over to one of the machines, trying not to let his eyes be drawn to her perfect ass as she bent over to wipe over the surfaces of one of the recently vacated games.

He tried to play, he _really_ did, but all the focus he had carefully cultivated on his walk over had evaporated when he had seen her. All he wanted to do was touch her, feel her skin, have those long legs wrapped around him, see the perky breasts without the shirt to cover them.

Klaus sat there, in front of different games for literally hours, trying to focus enough on the stupid games.

The 100-point lead was teasing him. How had QueenBarbie managed 100 points exactly? That would definitely have taken skill.

But the blonde beauty and her tiny shorts were teasing him more, sapping him of every ounce of concentration he possessed for gaming, and had him concentrating… hard… on other… things.

"Hey," a feminine voice said, at about 9:00pm.

Klaus looked up to see the blonde peering at him. He'd relegated himself to the corner game, furthest away from where she was working behind the desk, in the hopes he could refocus his mind on beating the high score.

"Hello, love," he replied, and was _very_ pleased to note the light blush that crept into her cheeks.

"I know this is a real crappy thing to ask, but you're the only one in here, and would you mind leaving, so I can close up early. It's been the actual worst day ever, and I don't know if I can make it another hour actually functioning. So…?"

"Wouldn't Bill be unhappy with that?" Klaus asked, smugly, but already resolved to agree – she could probably ask him to eat pizza and he would if it got him into her good books.

"Probably," she shrugged. "But he's my dad, it's not like he can fire me from being his daughter."

"Very true."

They chuckled lightly together and Caroline looked at the screen of his game.

"Oh my god, _you're_ TheHybrid?"

"Yes…" Klaus asked, slowly.

She let out loud, elated laughter, and Klaus felt as though he were the butt of some joke, even if her smile was making him a little weak at the knees.

"I'm sorry!" she said, as her giggle subsided. "You were leading like all the machines. Those 100 points must really be annoying you. I know it amused me."

"Oh, if it _amused_ you so much, maybe I should stay the extra hour and reclaim my crown," Klaus challenged.

"No, no! Don't do that," she laughed. "I just want to die in my pjs on the couch."

"I'll leave if you let me take you out for a drink," Klaus blurted out.

"What?" she asked, disbelievingly.

"You heard me, love."

She looked at a loss for what to say, and Klaus was pleased to note her not so subtle checking him out. She frowned, opened her mouth to say something, closed it when she thought better of it, and opened it saying finally, "I don't even know your name!"

"Klaus. Yours?"

"Caroline Forbes."

"Now we know, so drink?"

She narrowed her eyes, but there was a small, quite flattered smile playing on her lips.

"I still have to cash up and clean up. If you hang around, and I don't _hate_ you by the time I'm finished, you can walk me home. And then – _maybe_ – I'll give you my number. Deal?"

"Sounds perfect."

Caroline cleaned up, and Klaus sat by, feeling a little useless as she whizzed around him, but made up for it by making her laugh, smile and blush.

When she had finished, she let him walk her home, where they Klaus felt daring enough to grab her hand, and they walked fingers laced the 30 minutes back to hers.

She gave him her number, and said to call if he wanted to hang out. And, as he left, he resolved to do just that.

He was completely entranced.

xxx

"You're looking mighty pleased with yourself," Kol smirked, as the four of them walked to the pizza parlour. "Did you finally find someone in Mystic Falls to scratch your manly itches, Nik?"

"Don't be gross, Kol," Rebekah spat.

"I can scratch Nik's itches!" Henrik chimed in.

"Not that kind of itch, brother," Kol grinned.

Klaus just smiled, knowingly.

He and Caroline had been texting, almost non-stop since he left her on Friday night. They had dinner on Saturday, and the breakfast on Sunday, but once his brothers and sister had returned on Monday, Klaus hadn't been able to catch her.

But that night, there was a movie being played in the town square, and while his siblings ran off with their friends, Klaus could sit with Caroline.

The only trouble was, he also had to sit through death by inhaling pizza fumes before they went, as the arcade was closed that day due to the movie night.

While his siblings squabbled over which pizza they wanted, Klaus gazed, a little wistfully out the window, thinking of a time when he _didn't_ have to deal with the horrendous smells of overly greased pizza.

His eyes wandered to the arcade, when he caught the eye of Caroline, who was striding towards the door. She smiled widely, and waved at him. Klaus felt a smile the size of a goofy banana overtake his face as she waved back, before she slipped into the store and was gone from his vision.

Klaus barely had a split second reprieve before Rebekah shrieked, "How the bloody hell do you know _Caroline Forbes!_ "

His head snapped around to his sister, who looked almost star struck.

"Umm, her father owns the arcade. We met the other day when I went in there."

Rebekah's head made an unhealthy sounding noise as it connected to the table.

"Please tell me you didn't do your usual trick of a quick rough-and-tumble then out-of-bed-and-lost-her-number before the sun has risen, Nik. Please tell me that," Rebekah groaned.

"Umm… I didn't do that," Klaus said, although it sounded more like a question.

"That is a relief," she said, as sighed with relief, a smile was visible as she raised her head from the wood. "Caroline Forbes was a senior two years ago, homecoming and prom queen, head of all the dance committees, cheer captain, total barbie. But she's now captain of a college cheer squad, and so she's coming back to do cheer boot camp with us for a few days before school goes back, and rumour is she'll be picking the new captain. _Which means you cannot sleep with her and break her heart_ , or all my hard work will be ruined!"

Klaus had zoned out as rabbited on about all the incredible qualities of Caroline Forbes, but his mind had fixated on only two words. _Queen_ and _Barbie_.

The two words rattled around his mind, and many things began to make sense. The hundred points, the fact that she was the _only_ female who seemed to frequent the arcade, the laugh she let out when she found out _he_ was TheHybrid, the knowing smirk she'd given him every time he'd bring up the fact he wanted to be king of all the games.

"Queen, barbie," Klaus gritted out, standing up from the table, menacingly.

"Our of _everything_ I said, Nik, you take _queen_ and _barbie_? Are you serious?"

"You guys go on ahead to the movie. I'll meet you there."

With that, Klaus got up from the table and stalked his way over to the arcade. Once there, he began rapping his knuckles on the door, a furious expression on his face.

Caroline came to the door, looking slightly bewildered.

"Klaus, hey, I thought –" but she was cut off as he pushed through the door, dominantly.

With the door closed behind them, Klaus pushed Caroline up against it. He leaned in and traced his nose along the skin of her cheek, and he was pleased to note the blush that crept up her cheeks, and her breathing grew a shallower.

"QueenBarbie," he breathed into her ear, and she stiffened. " _You're_ QueenBarbie?"

Caroline's eyes were wide, and a tiny smile was replacing the shocked look that he'd elicited with his rough behaviour.

"What can I say," she murmured, her smirk widening with ever passing word. "Some shifts get boring, and breaking your winning streak was too good a challenge to pass up."

Klaus' eye narrowed.

"Well, I might need to get my revenge," he muttered, his breath brushing over her ear. He brought the hands that were on the door either side of her head to her waist, and pulled her toward him.

"What did you have in mind," she sighed, running her hands up his sides, settling them at the nape of his neck.

Instead of answering, Klaus caught her lips with his and kissed her, passionately, tongue quickly slipping past the seam of her mouth, battling with her own.

When he bent her over the nearest machine and slipped her cock into her soaking folds some twenty minutes later, it wasn't exactly what he'd envisaged when he'd stalked over there.

But listening to her name on his lips, as he pounded into her, while she came spectacularly, Klaus couldn't bring himself to care.

It was worth it.

Definitely worth it.

* * *

 **HEre was my second drabble for adversaries day of AU week. Hope you enjoyed! LOL I'm a bit of a smut tease... sorry about that. :3**


	26. April Fools' Day

_Summary: Caroline first visits the Mikaelson clan on April Fools' Day. What could possibly go wrong? P.S. Do not read if you don't like conversation about masturbation._

* * *

"So, you promise you're on board? Because if not tell me now then I can –"

"I assure you, Kol. Contrary to popular belief, I do have a sense of humour."

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye."

xxx

"Klaus, what's with the pout? It's going to be okay!"

"Caroline, you do _not_ know my family. They'll have something cooked up. They always do. I'm usually the one doing the cooking."

"You've never cooked anything in your life."

Klaus scowled, and ran a stressed hand over his face. Caroline grabbed his knee, squeezed it and offered an encouraging smile.

"We've been together for three years, Klaus. They're going to know I'm not just using you for your money," she said, reassuringly. "Or the really good sex."

He smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"My love, there is a reason I've kept you from them for so long. They're mean, and vindictive, and protective. They'll be planning something, I just know it."

Klaus pulled into a driveway, and Caroline's mouth fell open at the sheer beauty of the place. Rolling hills, sweeping lawns, a gorgeous old manor.

"You grew up here?" she asked, disbelievingly.

"I did," he sighed. "It's not nearly as glamorous as it seems."

Caroline scoffed, and Klaus' heart rate picked up again, as he pulled his car up next to a violently pink mini-cooper, which signalled his sister was already here.

Of course she would be.

Rebekah wouldn't pass up an opportunity to terrorise Klaus.

He also noticed three other cars accompanying Rebekah's, a black jaguar, a dark grey BMW, and a white 4WD. It seemed that Caroline wasn't just going to meet his mother, like he'd been led to believe.

Nope.

She was going to be meeting the entire clan.

Mother, brothers, sisters, sisters-in-law, roudy nephews and all.

His knuckles tightened on the steering wheel, and he had to fight every instinct in his body not to turn tail and run back to the States, which was blessedly Mikaelson-free.

Caroline, of course, noticed his discomfort. She smiled gently, and leaned over to kiss his cheek.

"They're not going to scare me away," she said, tenderly. "No matter how awful your family is, I love _you_. I don't have to love them."

He smiled weakly back at her, still not quite convinced she would still love him after this week. Hell, he'd be surprised and proud if she made it through dinner. The only saving grace of this trip would be that at least his mother would be trying to mediate the intensity of her children.

Klaus got tentatively out of the car, feeling somewhat like he was about to walk up Calvary and not into his childhood home.

Caroline got out and smiled brightly, so happy to just not be travelling anymore. The trip from New York to London wasn't a fun one, and the drive between London and the Mikaelson Manor was just a little bit too long to be comfortable.

Klaus darted round to Caroline, and grabbed her hand tightly, like she might run away at any second.

They'd only taken three steps to the front door when there was a shriek, as a flash blonde literally pushed Caroline away from Klaus, and engulfed him into her arms.

"Niklaus, never _ever_ stay away this long, _ever_ again. Or, so help me, I will castrate you!"

The girl continued talking a mile a minute about things Caroline didn't catch, or didn't understand. She stood slightly awkwardly off to the side, watching the siblings reunite.

The blonde, who Caroline assumed was Rebekah, turned towards Caroline after another few moments, a disdainful look on her face.

"So, you're Nik's newest bimbo. Why are you with him? Is he paying you?"

"Rebekah," Klaus groaned, the relaxed expression on his face, suddenly turning irritated. "This is Caroline."

"Well, she's obviously only with you for your money! Look at her! Cheap and trashy!"

Caroline was taken aback, she hadn't really expected Klaus' worries to actually have grounds.

She was about to answer, when she screeched and jumped nearly a foot in the air, as an unfamiliar hand rested itself on her butt, and then slunk around to rest on her waist.

"Cheap and trashy? Bekah, you do our guest here a disservice calling her such things. Tasty and edible is how I would describe her."

"Kol, get your hands _off_ Caroline," Klaus growled.

"What? She's a very beautiful little thing. Can I have a taste? Please?"

"Kol, please behave," called a stately voice, from the doorway. "And Rebekah, be nice."

Both pouted, but did as they were told, much to Klaus' relief. Caroline was already looking shaken. Klaus strode over to his mother and wrapped his arms around her.

"Hello, mother," he smiled.

"Hello, my son. And I take it this is Miss Forbes?"

Caroline gave Mrs Mikaelson her most charming smile, a smile that made Klaus' knees buckle a little, and stuck out her hand.

"Caroline, please, Mrs Mikaelson. Thank you for inviting me to stay! Your property is beautiful."

"Yes it is," Esther said, down her nose, ignoring Caroline's out stretched hand. "Now, Kol, Rebekah, for being rude, please take Klaus and his _friend's_ luggage to their room."

"But that's what we have servants for!" Rebekah cried, sulkily.

"Yes, but they are all indisposed. Now, do as your told."

The two siblings pouted, and Klaus sighed in relief that the first introductions were out of the way, but he was still dreading the other encounters that were still to come.

And then there was dinner.

He grabbed Caroline's hand, and led her into the main foyer. It wasn't lost on him that his normally warm mother had been standoffish with Caroline, and referred to her as his 'friend', but he hoped her frostiness wouldn't take long to melt.

Klaus walked with Caroline in the direction of his old room, but stopped when his mother called from behind them.

"Niklaus, your room is being remodelled. You will be in the guest third guest room."

"What? Mother, you _knew_ I was coming home? Why remodel it?"

"They were meant to be gone two weeks ago, but you know what contractors are like."

"And why the _third_ guest room?" Klaus asked, his face scrunching up as though the third guest room was something akin to sleeping in the gutter.

"Well, as you know, Finn and Sage are here, so the twins are in the second guest room, and Henrik has a friend staying over, so he's in the first."

Klaus gritted his teeth, a sure fire sign to Caroline that he was about to explode. She squeezed his hand, and gave him a look, and he calmed down a little.

"Fine, mother."

He changed course, and led Caroline up a flight of stairs to the what must have been the third guest bedroom.

Klaus closed the door behind him, and rested his head on the wood of the door, glad for a moment of peace, before the rest of the clan clicked to his arrival.

"Seriously?!" Caroline exclaimed.

Klaus whipped around, expecting to see Kol in his porn star pose on the bed.

What he saw was much more uncomfortable.

Two beds.

Two single beds.

Two single beds on opposite walls of the room.

He let out a groan.

"Why are they being like this?" he growled again. "I told you, Caroline, I told you meeting my family would be a terrible idea."

"It's okay, Nik. Come on, there's still Elijah, Finn and Henrik to meet? They'll be good, right?"

"Yes, unless they're involved with whatever plan has been cooked up."

"Again with the conspiracies? Klaus, I don't think there's a plan."

"Oh, there's a plan, all right. Rebekah didn't kick up nearly enough of a fuss about taking our bags to the room. Or 'peasant work' as she likes to call it."

"You're being ridiculous, Klaus."

"I'm really not, just you wait."

xxx

A few hours later, everyone was sitting around the long mahogany table, actual servers were serving the food, and there was a lively – read _violent_ – debate raging around the siblings about some trivial thing that was supposed to be dead and buried nearly two decades ago.

It had been sparked by Kol reminding the table of the time Klaus and Elijah had both fancied the same girl. Which had led to snarky comments about Rebekah's first boyfriend, Alex. To a loud discussion about Rebekah's second boyfriend, Enzo. Which had finally somehow regressed to loud insults about the time they had been on holiday in Barcelona and how it was Rebekah and Klaus' fault, not Kol and Elijah's… Though Caroline couldn't quite decipher what the 'it' was…

Rebekah was flinging insults at Kol who was grinning like a loon at Klaus. Klaus was locked in a battle of wills with Elijah, who was being talked down by Henrik, who was sitting next to a very exasperated looking Finn. Sage, Finn's wife, was trying to calm her excited five-year-olds, who were practicing the naughty words being flung around by their aunt and uncles. Sitting awkwardly watching the ensuing insanity, were Caroline, Henrik's friend Lucien, and Elijah's husband, Tristian. Sitting at the head of the table, patiently sipping her soup was Esther. She made no move to stop the battle, until she finished the last drop of her soup, when she stood up, a terrifying power emanating from her.

"Enough!" she commanded.

Immediately the table fell silent, in a very cartoon kind of way.

"You have all proven to me you are incapable of being treated as adults. So, unless addressed by me, you will not speak. The exceptions are Sage and –" Caroline was so sure she was going to be the second name – "Tristian."

Caroline nearly dropped her spoon.

"We will reassess when I am half way through my main."

With that, Esther sat gracefully back down, and looked expectantly at all the still half full soup bowls.

As they finished soup in silence and entrée was served, Caroline looked over at Klaus, who looked like an almost hilarious combination of furious, apologetic, and guilty. She _almost_ snorted.

"So, Caroline," Esther said, as she finished up her entrée. "Tell me a little about yourself?"

Caroline dumbly looked around her, to see if she was the one being addressed. When she realised she was, she anxiously cleared her throat and began to speak.

"Well, I'm from Mystic Falls, Virginia," she began.

"Yes, yes," Esther said, tersely. "You were a star pupil, Miss Mystic Falls, head cheerleader, went to a good college, paid your own way through, and are now an event planner. I know your bio, Caroline. I want you to tell me why you think your _common_ blood is good enough for my son."

"Mother," Klaus snarled.

"You do not have speaking rights, Niklaus. Caroline, kindly answer your question."

She looked helplessly around the table, as if she'd find someone to fight in her corner. But all the non-siblings were looking sympathetically at their food, and all the siblings were looking at her, _very_ seriously, as though they, too, were very interested in her answer.

And then there was Klaus who was looking murderously at his mother.

"I'm not sure what sort of standards you want me to achieve, Mrs Mikaelson," Caroline said, trying to sound confident. "But I love your son, and if he thinks I'm good enough for him, then that should be good enough for you."

Esther raised her eyebrows, but her expression did not waver in the slightest, she just went back to her food.

After a few more minutes of eating in silence, the Mikaelson matriarch turned her attention to her third son.

"So, Niklaus," she began. "I just wondered whether you had got around to asking your little friend here the hard questions yet?"

Klaus looked almost as if his head were about to explode, "Mother, I swear to…"

"I only ask because I love you, my son. I just need you to check before you spend your money on a diamond, that you've made sure she has never self-raped her sin cave?"

Both Caroline and Klaus' mouths fell open, in absolute horror.

" _Sin cave?_ " Caroline shrieked.

Had their eyes not been locked on Esther, whose expression was still as stony and unreadable as when they'd first entered the house, they would have realised that every other person sitting around the table was nearly drawing blood biting the insides of their cheeks, in efforts to try not to laugh.

"Mother," Klaus said, completely flabbergasted at what she had just said.

"Niklaus, we know your track record with women isn't stellar. And you have to know the hard truths before you make the hard decisions. Her fingers are for diamond rings, not for ringing the devil's doorbell."

As Esther finished he sentence, there was a snort from the other end of the table, as Henrik inhaled his half his water down the wrong hole. And suddenly, the rest of the family burst out laughing. Even Elijah and Finn, were chuckling along with the rest of them.

" _April Fools!_ " they chorused, all still howling with laughter.

"Goodness, Mother," Kol gasped, clapping a still mildly choking Henrik on the back. "I honestly thought you'd be the one to slip up! Not Henrik! Spot on."

"What?" Klaus barked, fuming.

"Oh my dear, Caroline," Esther said, a wide, kind smile breaking over her face. "I am so sorry to put you through all that."

The woman rose from her seat at the end of the table, and walked over to the still shocked Caroline, pulling her in for a tight, warm hug.

"Honestly, Nik," Henrik giggled. "You chose to bring your girlfriend to meet us on _April Fool's Day_? Have you learned nothing from being in our family?"

"Yes, Niklaus," Esther said, retaking your seat. "I don't usually participate in your siblings' antics. But let this be a lesson to you. Do not make me wait _five years_ between visits again. Or my revenge will be much sweeter than it was this evening."

"So, I take it my room isn't being renovated then?" Klaus asked, dryly.

"Not at all, in fact, I've already had your things moved from the guest room to your room."

"Brilliant," he spat sarcastically, as he sat back sulkily in his chair. "Bloody brilliant."

Caroline was still looking completely disorientated about what had happened, and Klaus looked at her helplessly, as the solemn mood that had been blanketed over the table since the middle of the soup fell away, and everyone began talking and laughing again.

"Welcome to the family, love," Klaus said, weakly.

* * *

 **HI guys. This is a drabble I wrote for Tumblr on April Fools' Day, and I forgot to post it here... It was inspired by the Christian Mother's Against Masturbation Facebook page. If you're against it, that's fine, and I totally understand. I have a actually friend who is very against it. But, I find the page funny because it kind of goes a little bit too far in it's whole hate of the thing. Hope you liked. Poor Carebear, being picked on by the Mikaelsons, but it would definitely make a funny story to tell later on in the relationship, wouldn't you say? Bye now!**


	27. Fate-Gods and Cupcakes

Caroline honestly couldn't remember having a worse day in her life.

Every tiny, little thing that could go wrong, did go wrong from the café screwing up her coffee order that morning at 5:30am, to the meetings with new heads of the company's international divisions, to running into her disgusting, cheating ex-boyfriend when she had to run out of the office to buy a new shirt at 2pm – after one of the interns (who was totally getting fired) spilt scorching hot tea down her sheer (white) top, and her secretary couldn't do it, because she was called away on a family emergency, and her replacement secretary was a complete moron – to the disastrous mishap the head of her HR team had become embroiled in – how did a 55-year-old man get involved in a scandal surrounding selling silk scarves? – that was now _her_ mess to clean up, to the dinner with her parents that she missed because of the terrible day she had, and the guilt trip that had ensued.

Needless to say, the Good-Day-Fate-Gods were not smiling down upon her at all that day.

Now, she was sitting in a 24-hour Italian fast food restaurant at 11pm scoffing her face with creamy carbohydrates and terrible-for-you coke, her hair in an absolute shambles, her make up even worse, her new top – which didn't even fit properly or match very well – askew and untucked from her very rumbled pencil skirt, her feet clad, not in the Armani pumps she left the house in about 18 hours ago, rather the sneakers she kept in her office for when she went straight to the gym after leaving the office. To cap off the wonderfully hot-mess look she had seemingly adopted, she had donned a hideous, rainbow, woollen cardigan – that was trimmed with pompoms for heaven's sake (it had been a joke present from her best friend, Katherine; but that was a completely different story) – because it was the only thing warm enough she had in her office to brave the New York winter, seeing as her nice jacket had been ruined when the intern had attacked her with the tea.

As she slurped up the very last morsel of pasta, Caroline contemplated throwing away all her southern class and just licking the bowl, but she decided against it. It would be just her luck that day that someone who knew her would walk past and see.

"I'm glad to see you enjoyed your meal," the waiter offered, as he took away her plate. "This one is from the chef, says you look like you've had a rough day."

Before he moved away with her other dishes, the man placed a cupcake in front of her, and she thought that that maybe, just maybe, this day wouldn't suck quite so completely, because these cupcakes were positively to die for.

It was a chocolate cupcake, with a swirl of hazelnut and white chocolate on the top. The cake was steaming, freshly out of the oven, and Caroline knew that in the centre, was a thick, chocolate ganache that was to positively die for.

Her mouth watered, just looking at the damn treat.

And this time, she did throw all her southern belle-ness and class out the window, as she picked up the cupcake, and shoved the whole dessert into her mouth.

As the sweet heaven passed her lips, she moaned loudly, then she moaned some more as she began to chew and the chocolate sauce began to ooze into her mouth.

She honestly thought this was better than sex – not that she's had any in, like months – but there was, surely, nothing as utterly wonderful as a chocolate cupcake at the end of the worst day in history?

She continued chewing, eyes shut tight, lost in the beauty of the flavour, ignoring the fact that she was sure it was getting all over her lips.

Well, she continued chewing… until she heard a manly chuckle.

When she heard that, her jaw stopped its motion, and her eyes flew open.

And went to staring directly into the eyes of _a man_.

A man who was _extremely fucking attractive._

A man who was extremely fucking attractive _and_ her _newest fucking employee_

 _._

"Well, Ms Forbes, I certainly didn't expect to meet you under such circumstances," he said. "I thought we'd at least be in the office."

Caroline stared, mortified, as the new head of her Art and Antiques department smirked at her.

"Nothing to add? This is certainly at odds with the rumours I've heard of my new boss. Apparently, she's got a tongue sharper than a sword?"

Her face went from mortified, to unimpressed.

"Still nothing? Cat got your tongue? Or, perhaps, it's the four pound cake I just watched you scoff, whole."

Caroline's eyes narrowed, and pinned him with the most piercing, frosty death glare, she had in her arsenal. It was a look that served her well throughout her life, and it gave her no little satisfaction to see him cower, and take it down a notch.

She finished chewing her cake, swallowed, tried not to moan again at how brilliant it was, failed, ran her finger through her hair, then stood up slowly, menacingly.

"You will report to my office at 6:30am tomorrow, Mikaelson. Then you can see exactly how _sharp_ my tongue can be."

She was a tiny bit put off by the flirt that managed to unconsciously slip its way into her words, but continued anyway.

"I was going to go easy on you, but seeing as you took it upon yourself to be a douche-wad to your boss on your _first day_ , I don't think I will anymore."

It was Klaus' turn to look a little embarrassed, but, to his credit, he stood his ground.

Caroline stood up, threw her tip on the table, and grabbed her bag, trying to stand as proud as she could, despite the fact she looked like a positive twit, and flounced towards the door.

"And," she said, turning on her heel as she reached the entryway. "If you so much as breathe a word of _this_ –" she gestured to her less than stellar appearance – "I will _accidentally_ send my best friend, who works in the social media department, the pictures of you from your college days I discovered while thoroughly vetting you."

Klaus paled, and it was Caroline's turn to smirk.

"I bet it'll be hard for you to keep your arrogance when everyone has seen what I have."

"There's no need to be hasty…" he said hurriedly, though stopped just as quickly when she dismissively raised her hand.

"For what it's worth, I think you look adorable as Elsa, hilarious as Mario. And very dashing as Dave from Homestuck. Though, if I were you, I'd rethink the Barney. Purple dinosaur isn't a good colour on you."

* * *

 **HEY PEOPLE! A small little dwabble for yo, from my TUmblr. Sorry it's been like five million years. But you know, life, and stuff. Thanks to anon - on Tumblr - for the prompt, I had fun with it. Let me know what you think!**


	28. Accidental Babies

_Be warned, this does strongly allude to Klaroline cheating on their partners with each other._

* * *

Her moans were holy.

Sacred.

As she lay beneath him, head tossed back in sheer bliss, hair splayed across his pillow.

His sheets may have been a bright white, made from fine cotton, but they weren't nearly as pure, as delicate, as the look upon her face in the stolen moment when they were alone.

But no matter how pure the moments were, they were always stained, marred by dishonesty. By the soft, untrue, whispered 'I love you' she breathed into the ear of another man. By the bed he shared with another woman. By the loud declaration of love for him in every sigh and groan that escaped her mouth.

Despite the wickedness of the deed, Klaus couldn't quite find it in himself to stop, to let her go. Because, somewhere between his 18th birthday – the day he met her – their first stolen kiss barely a year later, the seven contactless years, his marriage, her partner and their reconnection over the last six months, he had fallen madly in love with her.

Again.

xxx

The shimmering room, with its twinkling lights and sparkling wines, were not as stunning as vision that was she.

His hands, usually steady and strong, began to tremble in his wife's clasp, his breath and heart beat, quicken by her side.

It had only been three days since he had lain with her, Caroline, beneath his sheets, wrapped within one another, letting their hands and minds wander to places of beauty, and silent perfection, but even that small separation had cost him much sleep and yield.

She haunted him.

Though, judging by the way her eyes sought his immediately, and the way her head tilted slightly, a tiny smile glinting at her lips, Klaus thought maybe – just maybe – he haunted her too.

xxx

Her moans were holy.

Music to his ears.

They drove him to heights he had only imagined.

Brightly coloured cushions beneath her back, in stark contrast to the paleness of her skin. But somehow, she still managed to outshine them. Her rosy, flushed cheeks, her plump, strawberry lips, her yellow, gossamer hair.

Earlier that evening, when she had slipped away from her boyfriend, and he his wife. They had escaped the party, and the faces for whom they had to be perfect for. She held his hand tightly, fingers locked with his. This time, his hand remained steady, so right it felt within her grasp. She had giggled gently at his easy words, and smiled in a way that caused his mind to reel.

His love for her still tainted, though, as he lay down next to his wife many hours later, kissing her cheek, apologising that their fancy night out had been spoiled with 'work'.

xxx

Their whispered argument, hadn't stayed whispered for long. Their voices had raised to the point where they couldn't look at each other for the unkind, spiteful words they tossed at each other.

Perhaps it was better this way. Perhaps, if she hated him – if he hated her – they could stop. They could go back to feeling the passion for the partners. They could go back to not missing each others' smell. They could go back to driving their partner's wild, not each other.

But as Klaus sank into a restless, haunted sleep, he knew that it didn't work that way.

xxx

"I'm leaving, Klaus."

As those three little words dropped seamlessly from her mouth, Klaus couldn't quite comprehend them.

He dazedly heard her reasons, the words 'tomorrow night', and he vaguely remembered asking questions of his own. But he could hardly process any of it. She was supposed to say three other little words to rock his world on its axis.

xxx

He left his house, and his wife the next night, the dull of twilight pressing around him, damming the consequences. He had to know, once and for all. He would rather be unhappy and alone, than miserable in a marriage to a woman that wasn't Caroline.

He's never considered himself a romantic man, or a man of grand gestures. But, as he raced through the crowded airport, desperate to capture a glimpse of her, to make sure he wasn't too late, he thought perhaps his time had come. To say all the things to her, he'd never been able to say. Do all the things he'd never been able to do.

"Caroline," he called out, finally catching sight of her, her fingers interlocked with another man.

She turned to face him, her expression morphing from neutral to pleading.

"Caroline, I –"

But he stopped himself, very aware of both Caroline and her boyfriend's eyes on him. Very aware that by pursuing this line could break them, beyond repair.

But he had to try.

"I know I make you cry," he began, his voice lowly and strained, his eyes searching, scanning, for answers in every line of her face. "I know sometimes you'd rather die, but… Do you really feel alive without me?"

"Klaus… please."

Her voice was brittle, ready to break.

"If so, be free," he breathed, taking a step closer to her, their surroundings falling away, the murmurs of the weary travellers around them fading into melody by the intensity of their shared gaze. "If not, leave him for me. Before one of us has accidental babies."

Caroline's eyes were wide, her holy voice caught in her throat.

xxx

Her moans were holy.

That night, beyond his wildest dreams.

And they were pure, tainted only by the memories of former lovers. Tainted by the distant hurt of other lives.

But pure, in their unconditional love.

* * *

 **Hello my fellow klaro-nerds,**

 **I've not written much lately and I apologise for that, but this has been batting around in my head for a long time, a VERY long time. It's inspired by the song Accidental Babies by Damien Rice, and I do quote the song verbatim in some places... so ALL credit to him on those bits. Hope you enjoy. Un-betaed, and written in the last hour with only one read through, so I apologise for any mistakes...**

 **Also, the Klaroline Awards are going on over on Tumblr, make sure you vote for your faves! I have already found like 1000 new fics/blogs/writers that I love, but didn't know where out there just because of these awards. You might too!**

 **Anyhey, let me know what you think.**


	29. Just A Normal Day

A smol pre-V-day coffee shop AU.

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For one moment, one quiet, shining moment, Caroline Forbes stared longingly out the glass windows, onto the street. She gazed at the faces of those hurrying happily by – the faces of people who weren't trapped in the grips of Monday employment.

Being a third year college student, Caroline didn't have all that much time to work, what with class, extra-curricular activities, and a steady social life. But through some horrible twist of fate, she had Mondays completely free.

Which meant, while all her friends were recovering from their weekends, she had to be peppy and perky while serving perfectly pooncey coffee orders to pretentious patrons who preferred their tri-daily caffeine fix about as complicated as their particularly promiscuous impertinences.

To add insult to injury, the café's wireless was down that day, which mean no cards whatsoever. Just those little bills that seemed so illusive in the digital climate.

On top of that, it meant that every second hipster complained about not being able to share their almond turmeric latte with a shot of decaf and chai with the entirety of their – rather lacking – Instagram following. The alternative to the Insta-whinger, were the try-hard-hippy-dippy folks who flagellated about how ' _we're all too involved in the internet',_ and _'how in an age with such connectivity we're rarely truly connected to others_ 'and how _refreshing_ it was to disconnect for a while. They made these proclamations as if they didn't have cell data constantly ringing notifications in like they were going out of style.

Needless to say, Caroline's day was sucking.

It had been hours of triple caff, half almond, half soy mochas, and the repeated line "I'm really sorry, but our wireless is down at the moment! So, we're only taking cash!".

And she was sick of it.

It was the day before Valentine's day, and she was feeling absolutely _no_ love toward the customers, her job, her boss, her _anything_.

"Hi!" she said, faux-brightly to the next customer to step through the door. "It's typical, isn't it! The day before Valentine's and our wireless connection is about as dead as my stale, stagnant relationship! So, just like the hooker I have to hire to get any action these days, we're only taking cash!"

She had her sunniest smile on when she delivered her line.

But her unfailing confidence completely failed, as she made eye contact with the customer.

He did not seem amused.

 _At all_.

The scowl he had worn through the café's door, deepened considerably, and he couldn't stop himself from saying, "Why anyone believes in this Valentine's nonsense is beyond me! It is _just a normal day_ , but with all this meaning attached? What? If I don't bring my loved one a red rose on that day, that means I don't love them? _Ridiculous._ "

Caroline hadn't expected her joke to fall so flat, but by-gum if she was going to take such petulance from a grumpy stranger with a stick up his butt.

"Oh, how endearing, another man who wants to preach the insignificance of Valentine's day," she said dryly, sarcasm dripping from her every pour. "You must be a real hoot at Christmas."

The man opened his mouth, ready to fire back an equally sarcastic response when she cut him off.

"If you must know, I don't have a boyfriend, nor an escort. Some _might_ say I was making a humorous statement, sometimes known as a _joke_. Perhaps if you pulled your head out of your ass long enough to listen to tone and timbre, you may have got that. What can I get for you today?"

She looked down her nose at him, pursing her lips haughtily, impatiently waiting for his order and the man's cold exterior cracked, his lips forming a tiny smile.

"I'll have a large flat white."

"What? No soy milk? No hazelnut? No extra whipped cream on the top? Surely you'll take an artisanal donut?"

"Nope, just the coffee."

"Well, I'll be damned."

They stood comfortable silence, while Caroline made the coffee. She was concentrating on her task; he was concentrating on her.

As she handed his coffee to him, he grinned.

"I'll definitely be back tomorrow."

"It's Valentine's day tomorrow," she replied, dryly.

"It's a terrible tradition. I stand by that."

He turned to go, and was just about to step through the door, when he turned and said, "but red roses are nice, even if it is _just a normal day_."

With that, and a wink, he was gone.

* * *

 **Oh lord, it's been a long time since I've updated anything. Pls don't hate me. There's been some severe block going on. Hope you like this life-inspired bit of writing.**


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